A Twist of Fate
by Amaya-chan07
Summary: In this AU: Merida has lost her memory and has lived in Berk for 5 yrs becoming a strong viking girl each day, when she discovers that Hiccup shut down a Night Fury and set it free, she starts to question everything she was told about dragons and she becomes more amazed by Hiccup then she did before. Sorry that the summary is short but hey nobody is perfect
1. Prologue

"Hello to all Mericcup fans, my name is Amaya-chan and this is going to be my very first Mericcup fanfic so please go easy on me ok, also I do not own Httyd or Brave. The only thing that belongs to me is my OC and now let's read"

* * *

**Prologue**

"Hiccup what are you doing?" asked Stoick looking at his nine year old son doing something stupid again.

"I'm hunting for trolls" he says with a smile.

Stoick and Hiccup where on a boat, out at sea doing some father and son quality time. But this was **not** what Stoick had in mind?

"Oh Thor. Son I already told you they do not exist!" said Stoick "We're here to fish not to hunt trolls!"

"But Gobber says their real and he said that they like socks but only the left ones. So I tied my sock to this rope and left it there at the water" said Hiccup pointing at where the sock was floating.

Stoick rubs his forehead, he's gonna have to talk to Gobber to stop telling him one of his stupid fantasy story's to Hiccup. He made a big sigh and already had enough of this "I'm going to set the sails, get your sock back and don't do anything ok" he warned him.

"Ok" said Hiccup feeling sad that he didn't find any trolls.

He retrieves his sock but then hears something, he turns around and saw a little blue flame floating. Hiccup didn't know what it was but was amazed by it, he extended his hand to see if he could touch it but it vanished and appeared a few feet away from him "Wow" he whispers. He tries to reach for it again but it vanished and then reappeared at the front of the boat. Hiccup tries again but it vanishes once more, then he sees that the blue flame was floating in the water. The blue flame started to float away from the boat, Hiccup kept looking at it as it floated away. Then it disappeared but right when it disappeared Hiccup saw something at the water, the only thing he noticed about it was that it was red "Dad I think there's something over there" he says.

"Not now Hiccup" said Stoick releasing the sail.

"But Dad..." Hiccup inch himself closer to see what it was, once he could tell what it is his eyes widen. It was a girl with red hair and she was holding on to a broken wood to support herself.

"DAD! DAD! IT'S A GIRL! THERE'S A GIRL IN THE WATER!" yelled Hiccup.

Stoick stopped what he was doing and went to the front of the boat where Hiccup was, he looked to where Hiccup was pointing and saw the girl "Stay here" he told Hiccup. Stoick jump off the boat and swam towards the girl, he grab her and swam back at the boat.

**A few hours later back at their home…**

Hiccup didn't move from the red hair girl from the moment they got to his house. She was sleeping on their wooden couch, he sat and watch for any signs of her waking up at any moment. Hiccup got a better look at the girl; she looked to be the same age of him, or maybe younger than him. She had a lot of freckles on her face like himself and thought that she was kind of pretty, the only girls he seen in his village were Astrid, Ruffnut, and Iona.

Suddenly he heard something and notice that the girl was waking up "DAD! DAD SHE'S WAKING UP!" he yelled. The girl sat up and rub her eyes, when she open her eyes the first thing she saw was a boy with aurbun hair, green eyes and his face had freckles. Hiccup was amaze that the girl had blue eyes and it made him think that she look really pretty. "Hi, Are you ok?" he asked.

The girl didn't say a thing feeling a bit scared and shy "Can you talk?" he asked, but she still didn't answer.

"How's is she?" asked Stoick as he approaches them.

"I think she can't talk" said Hiccup.

Stoick looked at the girl and saw that she was scared, he kneels down to be at the same level as her "It's alright. We won't hurt you" he said in a gentle voice. The girl wasn't scared anymore she didn't know why but when she saw this big man she felt a bit relax "My name is Stoick, and this is my son H-"

"My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III, but you can call me Hiccup" he said with a smile.

The girl gave a little laugh and made a small smile at him.

"I made her smile Dad!" smiled Hiccup feeling really proud that he made her smile.

"I know" said Stoick "Now do you know where you're from?" he asked.

The girl stayed silent for a moment trying to find an answer but she didn't have an answer. She look up at Stoick and shook her head "Do you know who your father and mother are?" he asked, she stayed silent again, looked down at her hand and grip the sheet and shook her head again feeling a bit sad. Stoick stayed silent as well, the girl seems to have lost her memories and from the way she was found, it must have been the storm that happened two days ago.

Hiccup saw that the girl was sad and didn't like it, so he thought that maybe he could do something to make her feel better "W-What's your name?" he asked.

When the girl heard that she loosen her grip "M-Mer... M-Merida"

"Is that your name?" asked Hiccup, Merida nodded "Merida. That's a pretty name" he said with a smile. Merida's face made a light blush for what Hiccup said about her name.

"T-Thank you" she said.

"Merida can you stand?" ask Stoick.

Merida nodded, she threw the sheet away and got off the couch. She almost fell but Stoick helped her "Take it nice and easy" he said, Merida nodded, she took a few steps slowly and then after a few more steps she could walk.

Stoick made a small smile "Well I'm going to make dinner" he said as he got up, walked to the kitchen. But then stops for a moment and turns to Hiccup "Hiccup while I make dinner, why don't you show Merida the village?"

"Great idea dad!" said Hiccup, he looks at Merida with excitement "Do you wanna see the village?" he asks.

Merida thinks for a moment and nods at him "Great, come on!" he says as he goes to the door, Merida follows him and helps him open the door. Once it was open Merida saw a lot of small houses everywhere and people walking around doing their jobs, Merida made a gulp sound and takes a few steps back thinking that maybe she should stay at the house.

"Are you scared?" asked Hiccup seeing at how scared she was, Merida nodded "Don't worry no one here will hurt you, I know this village like the back of my hand, come on!" he said smiling at her and extending his hand gesturing her to hold it. Merida hesitates but then takes it "Don't let go ok" he says, and she nods holding his hand tight.

"Ok Merida, Welcome to **Berk**".

* * *

"I promised to post the first chapter as soon as I can, but it all depends on you if you wan't me to continue the story, I'll explain more of the story in the future for now..." grabs a Santa's hat and wears it on her head then smiles and makes the peace sign "Hope everyone is enjoying their Holidays"

"**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY**!"


	2. Chapter 1

"Hey come on! You have to present the story" said Saya looking at Amaya-chan who was hiding behind her.

"B-B-But what if they hate me. I mean I promised them that I will post the first chapter soon and that soon turn into a year. They must hate me right now" said Amaya

"If they did hate you, why do you still have 13 favs and 20 follows" said Miyuki with her arms cross "Trust me girl you are not the first or the last writer in the fanfiction world to post a chapter so late. Heck they are some writers that don't post up to 3 or 4 years, and yet their fans still wait for them, cause they know that they will not abandon their story, and neither are you"

"And if they do hate you" smiled Saya holding a knife up "I will simply kill anyone who dares to hurt you"

"P-Please don't" said Amaya worried that Saya might be serious.

"Ok a little heads up for you readers" said Miyuki "The 1st chapter is kinda done, there are a few errors you will notice once you read it. So if you ever read this chapter again you will find a few things change into it"

"And I'm sorry that I broke my promise to you guys. I can't promise you guys anything but I CAN promise this, when I finish writing the next chapter to this story I will post it right away and no you won't have to wait for another year"

"And right now Amaya is going on really difficult time at her university, since this year she's about to graduate, so please be patient, or else" said Saya holding the knife up again.

"I told you not to do that!" said Amaya

"Fine" pouted Saya.

This "..." means they are talking, and this '...' mean they a thinking

**_ENJOY!_**

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**Chapter 01**

_'This is _**_Berk_**_, its twelve days north of hopeless, and a few degrees south of freezing to death. It's located solidly on the meridian of misery'_

A skinny boy, around the age of fourteen, with auburn hair and freckle face, was laying on his bed of wood. He had a distant look in his green forest eyes as he gets further and further lost in the maze of his thoughts.

_'My village in a word, sturdy, and it's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets, the only problems are the pests'_

He's startled back to reality by the sudden screaming of his neighbors, the animals adding their part to the cacophony coming from outside.

_'You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes'. We have...'_

Alarmed he rushes downstairs, reaches the door and opens it only to be faced with…

"...**_Dragons_**_"_

Just as he notices the dragon across his house, it turns towards him and breaths fire, the boy manages to close the door and jump away from it, narrowly missing being burnt alive. Once the dragon moves on, the boy rushes through the remains of the destroyed entrance, looks around and sees the usual, dragons, everywhere. On the sky, on land, flying high and low, some breathing fire, some taking their cattle and others fighting the Vikings. Had it not been for the fact that they were under attack, the boy would have probably marveled at the seeming amount of team work these dumb beast were presenting at the moment. Where some attacked, others defended, others poached, and all in all, they kept the Vikings off themselves pretty well. Not well enough though.

_'Most people would leave, not us. We're Vikings, we have stubbornness issues'_

The boy runs through the village avoiding the fights, jumping over fallen things, narrowly avoiding weapons and even ducking below a log being carried by some of his fellow villagers. They all had their duties here and he needed to get to his.

_'My name's Hiccup, great name I know, but it's not the worst, parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that'_

As Hiccup runs, a dragon breaths fire ahead of the direction he's going, causing an explosion. The force of the explosion knocks Hiccup to the ground and sends one of his neighbors flying towards him. The Viking manages to gain his footing just in time to not crush Hiccup, screams a cheerful "Morning" in Hiccups face like he hadn't just been flying through the air some seconds ago. As Hiccup runs, he hears the villagers yell variations of the same thing.

"What are you doing out!?" said a Viking

"Get inside!" yelled another

"Get back inside!" repeated the next woman to pass him.

It was always the same. Ignoring his neighbors, Hiccup continued running up hill towards the smithy, where he should have been there by now. Only paying attention to his speed Hiccup doesn't realize a dragon is about to roast him alive until someone grabs him by the scruff of the neck and pulls him back. Startled back to reality it takes Hiccup a second to realize that his savior was the village leader.

"Hiccup!? What is he doing out again?!What are you doing out?! Get inside!" he yells then pushes Hiccup to get back inside and turns to the sky, searching.

_'That's Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Harry Hooligan tribe, they say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon's head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it? Yes I do'_

Stoick grabs a wooden cart and hurls in the air, knocking a dragon out of the sky "What do we got?".

"Gronkles, Nadders, Timberjacks, Zipplebacks, Oh and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare" reported a Viking warrior.

"Any Night Furies?" asked Stoick.

"None so far" he replied.

Then an explosion came and all the Vikings ducked for cover, but Stoick stands firm and brushes off the flaming debris off of his shoulder like it was nothing "Good".

Finally, after much running, Hiccup reaches the smiths hut. "Ah! Nice of you to join the party, I thought you'd been carried off" said the blacksmith with blond hair and mustache while he worked on fixing some bent weapons.

Hiccup reaches for a leather apron, ties it on, and starts organizing the items around the hut "Who me? Nah, come on! I'm way too muscular for their taste, they wouldn't know what to do with all this" he strikes a pose, hoping to show off muscle, but instead showing off his lanky body.

"They need toothpicks, don't they?" the blacksmith replies.

_'The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I've been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well...littler'_

Hiccup re-stokes the fire after picking up more damaged weapons and placing them aside to be fixed. Hiccup hears someone yell out "FIRE" he looks out just in time to see the fire brigade in action.

The fire brigade is composed of seven Vikings teens whose jobs is to, you guessed it, put out the fires caused by dragons. Skillfully they rushed through the plaza, tugging a large wooden cask on wheels. From it, they fill buckets of water to douse the flames.

Hiccup leans out of the stall to watch them in action _'Tha__t's Fishlegs'_ indicating a big Viking teen with blond hair '_He may be big but he's surprisingly fast'_

Another Viking teen had black hair with a buff body '_Snotlout he's always saying to himself how amazing he is and always tries to show off, also he's my cousin unbelievable right'_

Two blonde Viking teens who look almost the same but one was a girl and the other a boy were fighting for the bucket '_The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, no matter what situation their in they won't stop fighting each other'_

Next came a girl wearing a horned helmet, her hair was a golden brown bob cut and her eyes were honey colored. She was wearing a thick double layered cotton dress. The first and bottom layer of the dress is a dark shade of brown while the upper layer consists of a light orange color. Having been ribbed by a wild dragon, the orange skirt reaches higher on one side of her dress than the other. For uniqueness she has leather belts across her chest and waist, black leggings and dark brown boots. On both her wrist she had brown fur tied with a string to complete her look.

"Ruffnut! Tuffnut! Stop fighting and put out the fire right now!" ordered the girl.

"He 'She' started it!" yelled the Twins.

_'That's Iona, she's really strong and not afraid to speak her mind out, and sometimes she can be um… a bit bossy'_

Another girl who was helping to put out the fires, had a black elbow length fur hood covering her hair and face. She was wearing a blue shirt with long sleeves and a matching black fur skirt, a black belt holding everything in place. Her leather boots showed hints of even more black fur on them. While she worked a dragon swooped down from the sky and attempted to snatch her. She expertly dodged its claws, rolled on the ground, crouched and pulled the bow from her back, bringing with it an arrow and loading it unto the bow. She took aim and released the arrow, managing to bury it on the flying dragons leg. Her hood fell back, revealing a mane of red hair held back with string, clear blue eyes and a dusting of freckles over her porcelain skin.

"There's plenty of more whaur that came from!" yelled the daring girl while running to get more water.

_'That's Merida, it's already been five years since we found her, she lost her memories and doesn't know where she's from or who her family is. So she's been staying here at Berk with the elder Gothi ever since, and as you can see she's really good with a bow, even though is not such a good choice to use against dragons'_

_'And then there's...'_

The last viking girl had blonde hair in medium length braid, no helmet, just a headband, splashed water at the flames and walked away to refill, barely missing the flames of a dragon. A massive explosive of fire was behind her but she walks away like nothing while showing off her greatness and beauty.

_'Astrid'_

Hiccup's eyes widened slightly, heart racing and voice catching, he found himself mesmerized by Astrid's beauty and skill. And he saw the other Viking teens walking together as if showing how cool they are.

_'Their job is so much cooler'_

Hiccup watches the fire brigade regroup as they walk away from the flames, yearning to be one of them badly. If only he wasn't so weak, so clumsy, so, him. Hiccup was thinking of joining them but feels the bigger man hoist him up with his hook hand pulling him away from the window.

"Ah, come on, let me out, please. I need to make my mark" he whined as Bobber dropped him.

"Oh, you've made plenty of marks, **All** in the wrong places" replied Gobber.

"Please, two minutes, I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better, I might even get a date" begged Hiccup.

"You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe..." Gobber grabs a bola "You can't even throw one of these" the bolas were snatch from his hand by a Viking who threw the bolas and caught a dragon with no problem.

"Okay fine, but this…" Hiccup goes to the back corner of the stall, removes a sheet presenting his new bizarre invention "... will throw it for me" when he touches the hinged lid of the device, an arm springs up, throwing the bolas.

"Arggh!" screamed the Viking unlucky enough to be hit by Hiccups invention. Clearly the catapult needed some work still.

"See, now this right here is what I'm talking about!" says Gobber looking at himbangry.

"Mild calibration issue-" Hiccup hastily replies.

"Hiccup if you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all... this" said Gobber gesturing in Hiccup's general direction.

"But... you just pointed to all of me" said Hiccup.

"Yes! That's it! Stop being all of you" said Gobber.

"Ohhhh..." said Hiccup

"Ohhhhh, yes" mimicked Gobber

"You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw... Vikingness contained, there will be consequences!" warned Hiccup.

"I'll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now" said Gobber tossing him a sword not taking his threat seriously.

Hiccup takes the sword begrudgingly and lobs it onto the grinding wheel, it was always the same, he can't fight a dragon, he can't be one of the fire brigade, he can't use his invention because something will go wrong and he just can't do anything to prove himself.

_'One day I'll get out there. Because killing a dragon is everything around here'_

_'A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed'_

_'Gronckles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend'_

_'A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, twice the status'_

_'A Timberjack will be good too but they rarely come. So killing one of those will be hard to come by'_

_'And then, there's the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire'_

While Hiccup was still sharpening the sword he suddenly heard a high-pitch screech that made him stop his work, knowing very well that can only belong to one dragon.

_'But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the-'_

"NIGHT FURY!" yelled a Viking.

"GET DOWN!"

Vikings everywhere got down and cover themselves with their shields. As a fire blast was shot at one of the catapult, it exploded and burned to pieces. Hiccup look out and squinted his eyes searching for the Night Fury but couldn't see it anywhere. No one was able to see this dragon.

_'This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and never misses'_

Hiccup hears the Night Fury again and saw that it fire blast the already burned catapult. Hiccup still couldn't see the dragon but had a determined looked on his face.

_'No one has ever killed a Night Fury, that's why I'm going to be the first'_

"Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there!" said Gobber switching his hammer for an axe to join the others on the raid, he turn to Hiccup with a threatening glare "Stay. Put. There" Hiccup looks at him with a weird look.

"You know what I mean" Gobber charges into the fray, hollering with all his might ready to kill some dragons. A smirk crosses Hiccup's face as he goes to his invention and already knows what's he gonna do "I'll show them"

Hiccup rushes through the door, pushing his wheeled contraption through a wall of clustered Vikings and weaves through the ongoing mayhem, as fast as his skinny little legs can carry him. And hears the same thing that they always say.

"Hiccup, where are you going?!" asked a Viking.

"Come back here!" yelled another.

"I know, be right back!" shouted Hiccup.

Hiccup reaches a cliff and drops the handles to the ground, he cranks several levers, unfolding and then cocking the bowed arms of his contraption. He drops a bola onto a chamber and then pivots the weapon on a gimbal head toward the dark sky, he stays quit, he listens, with his eye searching in the sky, and hand poised on the trigger.

"Come on. Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at" He said under his breath still keeping a look out for his target.

He hears something, then hears it again knowing very well that it was the Night Fury and it was about to attack. He aim his contraption to the defense tower, then a blast of fire was shot at the tower, from the shot it illuminated the dragon for a split second. Hiccup sees the opportunity and pulls the trigger, strangely enough he close his eyes when he lunched the bolas. It snap forward sending Hiccup flying to the ground, the bola disappears into the sky. Hiccup quickly looks up hoping that he caught his target, he hears a screech and saw that the Night Fury landed far off in the forest. Hiccup had a surprised and happy look on his face, he couldn't believe it he actually caught the Night Fury "I hit it?!" he says still surprise but was really happy "Yes! I hit it! Did anybody see that?!" he wished that someone did, but his victory was cut-short when a Monstrous Nightmare appeared behind him. Hiccup turn around seeing the dragon, that also crushed his invention "Except for you" not what he expected when he said anybody.

Stoick was holding down the netted Nadders, when he suddenly hears a familiar holler of fear. He looks up and saw that it was Hiccup running through the plaza screaming with a Nightmare chasing after him.

Stoick sighs "Do NOT let them escape!" he ordered, leaving the Nadders to his men and runs off to Hiccups rescue, again.

Vikings scatter as Hiccup dodges a near fatal blast, then he accidentally crashes into someone "Hiccup?!" Hiccup saw that he crashed into Merida and she was giving him a questionable look.

"NO TIME! RUN!" without giving her a chance to ask, he grabs her wrist and both of them start running. Merida looks back and was surprise to see that they were being chase by a Monstrous Nightmare.

"What did ye dae?!" she yells.

"Nothing! It just started chasing me!" he yelled back, still holding on to her wrist.

The Nightmare's sticky, napalm-like fire splashes up onto the buildings, setting them alight. Hiccup and Merida dodge another fire blast from the dragon and hide behind the last standing brazier, the only shelter left available, the Nightmare blasts it, spraying fire all around them, making them stick closer together. Hiccup peers around the smoldering post, he saw no sign of the Nightmare, but he turns back to find it leering at him and Merida, blocking their escape. It takes a deep breath ready to fire at them alive, Hiccup and Merida looked at each other then back at the dragon and knew that they were thinking the same thing _**'****We're both finished'**_. Suddenly, Stoick leaps between them, tackling the Nightmare to the ground, resuming their earlier fight. The Nightmare tries to toast Stoick, but only coughs up a little fire.

"You're all out" he says.

He punches' the Nightmare repeatedly in the face, then gives it a kick, driving it away, it takes itself to the air and disappears, and Stoick turns to the pole looking real furious at the one responsible for this whole mess.

_'Oh, and there's one more thing you need to know...'_

The burnt brazier pole collapses, revealing Hiccup and Merida, and both of them saw the massive iron basket crashing down. It bounces down the hill as it goes destroying and scattering the Vikings who were holding down the netted Nadders below, giving the chance to escape.

"Sorry, dad" said Hiccup as he let go of Merida's wrist, and Merida had her head down thinking that she was also in trouble.

The freed dragons escape with several sheep in tow and the escaped Nadders fly past with sheep in their clutches, thus ending another raid for the time being, the dragons have clearly won this one. The crowd of Vikings were murmuring and had their eyes on their Chief Stoick, awaiting his response to the situation that happen.

"Merida you're not in trouble, you may go" said Stoick looking only at Hiccup.

"Yes Chief" she says and walks away.

Stoicks looks at Hiccup furiously for the mess he made, until finally he spoke "Okay, but I hit a Night Fury" Hiccup was grab by the back of his green shirt, Stoick hauls him away from the disaster he made, fuming with embarrassment.

"It's not like the last few times, Dad, I mean I really actually hit it" says Hiccup but Stoick did not believe him or was actually listening to him "You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot, it went down, just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there, before it—"

"STOP!" yelled Stoick interrupting his son and releasing him "Just...stop" Hiccup stayed quiet and the crowd of Vikings goes silent, staring expectantly to what will happen "Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" stated Stoick.

"Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don't ya think?" Hiccup inquired.

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup! Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" asked Stoick wondering why his son couldn't do one simple thing.

"I can't stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just... kill it, you know? It's who I am, Dad" Hiccup answered trying to prove that he can be as much as a Viking like anyone else.

"You are many things, Hiccup" said Stoick rubbing his forehead "But a dragon killer is not one of them".

When Hiccup heard what his father said, it sting him and even more when he looks around to see the other Vikings nodding in agreement.

"Get back to the house" ordered Stoick then looks at Gobber "Make sure he gets there, I have his mess to clean up".

Gobber hits Hiccup on the head and leads him through the walk of shame like always. They pass the fire brigade as they snicker.

"Quite the performance" laughed Tuffnut.

"Next time you do something stupid don't drag anyone else with you"spoke Iona with her arms cross.

"I've never seen anyone mess up that badly. That helped!" said Snotlout laughing but then Gobber shoves him away, making him fall.

"Thank you, thank you" says Hiccup "I was trying, so..." he continued walking while avoiding looking at Astrid who was looking at him with pity eyes. He looks at Merida but she avoids his gaze by hiding her face with her fur hood, he keeps walking with his head down with shame and heads up toward a large house, standing prominently on the hill above the others, right next to the Great Hall.

"I really did hit one" said Hiccup.

"Sure, Hiccup" said Gobber not really believing him.

"He never listens" stated Hiccup.

"Well, it runs in the family" says Gobber.

"And when he does, it's always with this... disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich" when they reached the door way Hiccup turns to make an impression of his father, with his voice deep and with the accent "_Excuse me, barmaid, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fish bone_" he finished making a sad expression.

"You're thinking about this all wrong, it's not so much what you look like. It's what's inside that he can't stand" said Gobber trying to make him feel better which it didn't.

"Thank you, for summing that up" said Hiccup sarcastically.

"Look, the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you're not" told Gobber.

Hiccup sighs heavily with a sad expression "I just want to be one of you guys" he says and goes through the front door. Gobber looks at him sympathetically and goes back to help repair the village. Not noticing that Hiccup got out the back door and hurries off into the woods, determine to find the Night Fury.

**~0~**

After the end of the raid and repairing the village, all the Vikings got together at the Great Hall to discuss their next plan of attack against the dragons.

"Either we finish them or they'll finish us! It's the only way we'll be rid of them! If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will leave. They'll find another home" said Stoick as he sinks his blade into a large nautical map that had painting of dragons on them "One more search, before the ice sets in"

"Those ships never come back" said a Viking.

"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard. Now who's with me?" Stoick looks at them to seeing if anyone wanted to come. But all of them stayed quiet and some made excuses that they couldn't go. Stoick new that this would happen so he knew what to say next "Alright, those who stay will look after Hiccup" he said bluntly.

All the Vikings raised their hands to volunteer, anything is better than to look after Hiccup.

"To the ships!" exclaimed a Viking woman.

"I'm with you Stoick!" yelled Spitlout, Snotlout's Father.

"That's more like it" said Stoick satisfied with their answer.

All the Vikings rush out to the door and went to their house's to get ready for the trip, leaving Gobber and Stoick alone at the Great Hall "I'll pack my undies" said Gobber.

"No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits" said Stoick.

"Oh, perfect, and while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the stall, molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself...what could possibly go wrong?" said Gobber as he drank from his cup that was attached to his hand.

Stoick sinks onto the bench beside Gobber with a tired expression "What am I going to do with him Gobber?" asked Stoick.

"Put him in training with the others" said Gobber.

"No, I'm serious" said Stoick.

"So am I" says Gobber.

Stoick turns to him, glaring "He'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage".

"Oh, you don't know that" replied Gobber.

"I do know that, actually" countered Stoick.

"No, you don't" responded Gobber.

"No, actually I do" insisted Stoick.

"No you don't!" snapped Gobber.

"Listen! You know what he's like, from the time he could crawl he's been...different. He doesn't listen, has the attention span of a sparrow, Merida is not from this tribe and she's better on her feet then he is. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for... for trolls" said Stoick.

"Trolls exist!" claimed Gobber "They steal your socks, but only the left ones. What's with that?"

"When I was a boy..." said Stoick.

"Oh here we go" grumble Gobber.

"My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it, I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him. And you know what happened?" asked Stoick.

"You got a headache" said Gobber.

"That rock split in two, it taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber, he could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas!" says Stoick "Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become, Hiccup is not that boy"

"You can't stop him Stoick, you can only prepare him" said Gobber "I know it seems hopeless, but the truth is you won't always be around to protect him, you need Hiccup to prepare himself. You can't stop him, he's going to get out there again. He's probably out there now" said Gobber.

As Stoick let's Gobber's words sink in, thinking of what to do. He did not realizing that what Gobber said was not far out from the truth of Hiccup being outside.

**~0~**

Hiccup was in the woods still looking for the Night Fury, he has a roughly drawn map of the island covered in X's for the places that he didn't find the dragon. Hiccup looks at the map, looks up hoping to see if the dragon was around but sees nothing. He put another X and scratches his pen on the page out of frustration, then snaps his book closed and put it in the pocket of his brown fur vest.

"Uggh, the gods hate me" says Hiccup with a sad expression "Some people lose their knife or their mug, no, not me, I manage to lose an entire dragon!"

Hiccup whacks a branch, it snaps back, hitting him in the face. He looks up, mad from being hit but sees that the tree trunk is snapped in half. His eyes follow it to a trail of trees and the ground all destroy as if something big pass through here. He walks down the trail and walks up a small hill then saw something black and quickly got down to hide, he hesitantly rise up to see if what he saw was true, and it was, a few feet away was a black dragon laying there motionless. He frantically searches for something in his vest and finally pulls out his dagger. Hiccup was shaking with fear but shake's it off and goes towards the dragon. He was behind a big bolder taking deep breaths to calm his nerves and moves slowly towards it, it was laying there all tangle up by the bola. Hiccup was shocked, he really caught a dragon and not just any dragon, a Night Fury, the one dragon that was impossible to see and catch.

"Oh wow, I-I-I did it?!" he says with shock, still not believing it "OH! I did it! T-This fixes everything, YES!"

He strikes a victory pose, planting his foot on the fallen Night Fury "I have brought down this mighty beast!" suddenly the dragon shifts making Hiccup spring back towards the big bolder, terrified. He points his dagger at the dragon still shaking with fear but takes slow steps towards it, he sees that the dragon is breading so of course it's still alive. When Hiccup got close enough, he finds the Night Fury staring coldly at him. Hiccup is surprise by the dragon's stares, he tries to look away but couldn't as he look at the dragons eyes staring directly at him. The Night Fury kept staring at him not doing anything to get away, even if he wanted to, he was tangled by the ropes, the dragon knew what was going to happen next, he was going to be killed by this small Viking. Hiccup was still shaking and has the dagger pointed at the dragon, he takes a few deep breaths and puts up brave a face.

"I'm going to kill you, Dragon" said Hiccup as he change the dagger to strike down at it "I'm gonna… I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father"

"I'm a Viking. I am a VIKING!" he yells at the dragon as if to prove a point.

The dragon made a sound as if he heard him, Hiccup takes a few deep breaths and had a determined look on his face as he raises the dagger. He was getting ready to strike but looks at the dragons eyes again and saw that the dragon was scared, like it knew that he was about to end his life. Hiccup snap out of it, held the dagger higher ready to strike him, and the Night Fury makes a final sound as if saying farewell and drops his head on the ground getting ready for the sharp weapon to pierce him. When Hiccup heard the dragon moan, he tries to get it over with, but stops with a frustrated sigh. He looks at his dagger then at the dragon all hurt and tangle up by the rope, it was a perfect opportunity to kill the rarest dragon of all but Hiccup just couldn't go through with it.

"I did this" says Hiccup as if he was ashamed for what he did.

Hiccup turns to leave but stops and looks back at the dragon, laying there all tangle up with no way of escaping. Hiccup sighs and couldn't believe what he was about to do. The Night Fury eyes snap open when he heard a rope snap and was surprise to see that the small Viking was cutting him loose. Hiccup quickly cut the rope as fast as he could and hope that no one was around to see this. When he cut the last one he was caught by surprise when the dragon pounce him sending him pin back to the big bolder, his paw was on his chest and his claws were between his neck. Hiccup began to breathe fast shock from the sudden attack and stop his breathing as he looked at the dragon's fierce green eyes looking straight at him. The Night Fury glare at the small Viking and saw that he was terrified. Hiccup was scared out of his mind, he tried to get away but couldn't escape the dragon's strong grip on him. He sees the Night Fury opened its mouth and spread out his wings, that's when Hiccup knew that the dragon was going to finish him, which he understands since he was going to do the same thing to him. Hiccup closed his eyes and waited to be torch, but instead he was meet with a load ear-piercing roar right in his face and in a blur the dragon was out of his sight.

Hiccup was breathing hard his hand was where his heart is that was beating really fast and he let out a deep breath, still shock with fear on what just happen, he grabbed his dagger and stood up. He sees the Night Fury fly away as it disappeared into the fog and through the forest. Hiccup still had a shock look on his face, he turns around to leave but his legs went numb and his face was meet with the ground.

Unnoticed by him, there was a certain girl who was hiding behind a tree and saw the whole thing, when she saw him faint she took this opportunity to leave before she gets discovered.

* * *

"I would like to Thank **Saya and Miyuki** for helping me make this story. So **Thank you"**

"No problem" said Saya

"Anything for a friend" said Miyuki

"Oh if you guys go to my other stories, there is one called **_ATOF-Gift of the Night Fury _**, I posted it on Christmas as a gift to all of you"

**_SEE YOU SOON!_**


	3. Chapter 2

"Hello everyone! I would like to **Thank you all** for staying with me and with the story and** I welcome all** the other people that are interested in the story. I need you all to **PAY ATTENTION** on what I'm going to say, in 2 weeks I'm going to start to practice at a real clinic, so I won't be back for like a Month or two. Whenever I find time for myself, I'll write the next chapter. For now be patient cause I'm trying to have a future where I have a job, a house, and I can write fanfiction stories for fun. And if you can't then stop reading this story" said Amaya.

**Responses from the reviews**

Momijifan Low-Ki

You have every right to be mad at me for taking so long to update, and I'm glad that you liked the first chapter and that you will still follow and fav this story. Thank you very much

Guest # 1 

I posted this Story on Dec/24/2014, so when Dec/24/2015 came, it already been a year that I didn't update the story. But yeah I'm back, I will update the story when I find time cause I'm really busy trying to graduate from my University. Thank you for you kind words

Velocerstar

I'm glad that you like the story and don't worry this is a Mericcup story. I'm also a BIG FAN of Mericcup. It's the reason why I made this story

Tenze101

No you don't have to wait long, I just can't update like other writers who do it once a week or a month. When I finish writing and editing the story I'll post it.

Kilo8

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

Guest # 2

Thank you so much! X)

Guest # 3

I love Mericcup too! They are my OTP

Cjupsher

Than you very much. And there WILL be more ;)

**_ENJOY!_**

* * *

**Chapter 02**

Hiccup woke up moaning and feeling pain on his face, he then sat up and he looked around, he was confuse on where he was but then he remembered why he was out here. He found the Night Fury all tide up, he had the chance to kill it but he didn't do it, instead he set the dragon free, he thought he was going to die when the dragon pounced him but instead gave him a headache with his loud roar and then he fainted. Hiccup looks up and saw that it was night time, he really needed to get back before his father gets mad at him again. He got up and went straight home.

When he reached the door he opens it slowly and quietly sneaked in. Hiccup noticed his father poking at the fireplace distracted, he quickly went towards stairs to go to his room, he was almost there but then his father spoke.

"Hiccup"

"Dad. Uh… I, uh... I have to talk to you, Dad" said Hiccup.

"I need to speak with you too, son" said Stoick.

They both stayed quiet and then said what they wanted to say to each other.

"I've decided I don't want to…"

"I think it's time you learn to…"

"**To fight dragons**" they both said in unison.

"What?" they both said confuse.

"You go first" offered Stoick.

"No, you go first" insisted Hiccup.

"Alright, you get your wish. Dragon training, you start in the morning" said Stoick.

"Oh man, I should've gone first" said Hiccup starting to panic "Uh, 'cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings, or small home Repair Vikings-" he began to babble in panic.

"You'll need this" said Stoick not listening to Hiccup as he handed him an axe almost making him fall.

"I don't want to fight dragons" says Hiccup.

"Come on. Yes, you do" laughed Stoick

"Rephrase. Dad I can't kill dragons" Hiccup explain.

"But you will kill dragons"

"No, I'm really very extra sure that I won't" said Hiccup trying to get through his father.

"It's time Hiccup"

"Can you not hear me?"

"This is serious son!" says Stoick as he look at Hiccup with a serious face "When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you. This means you walk like us, you talk like us, you think like us. No more of... this" he said gesturing specifically at Hiccup.

"You just gestured to all of me" said Hiccup, feeling a bit hurt.

"Deal?" asked Stoick.

"This conversation is feeling very one-sided" said Hiccup annoyed that his father wasn't listening to him like always.

"DEAL?!" Stoick asked again.

Hiccup sigh in defeat seeing that there is no way in getting his father to listen to him "Deal" he said half heartily.

"Good" said Stoick. He grabs his helmet and duffel bag and heads for the door "Train hard, I'll be back. Probably" Stoick heads out the door, leaving in search for the dragons nest.

"And I'll be here. Maybe" says Hiccup.

When the door closes, Hiccup turns around and goes to his room. He drops the axe next to his wooden bed, takes off his boots, lays down on the bed and covered himself with a sheet, as he looked up at the ceiling he lets everything that happened today sink in. He finally caught a dragon but not just any dragon a Night Fury, with his invention that always seem to fail, he tells his father but doesn't believe him, when he goes and finds the dragon that was all tangle up, it was the perfect chance to kill it but he couldn't. Why? Why couldn't he kill the dragon? And now he has Dragon training tomorrow, which is something he doesn't want. He couldn't kill the first dragon he caught, how can he do it now.

"This will not end well" said Hiccup as he closes his eyes and goes to sleep.

**~0~**

Gothi was adding more firewood to the fire pit warming herself up, she hears the door open and sees Merida coming in "Aam back" she says as she pulls down her hood, Gothi points with her staff to the table telling her that the food was ready "Aam nae hungry Amma, Aam going to sleep, tomorrow I have Dragon trainin' " Gothi points her staff at Merida but not at her, at her bow, Merida notices and knew what she meant "Ah know, bow an' arrows arenae a suitable Viking weapon. I'll use the sword that ye had Gobber make me, it's in mah room. Goodnight" she walks up the stairs to her room.

She puts her bow and quiver down next to her bed, takes off her hood, boots, and lays at her wooden bed and looks at the ceiling drifting to her thoughts. Merida could not believe what she saw today, wondering if maybe she was hallucinating or it was real. She saw a Night Fury, an actual Night Fury, the rarest dragon that was impossible to see. She think that Hiccup was telling the truth when he said he shot it down with one of his invention, that usually don't work, but what really surprise her more was that Hiccup didn't kill it but instead set the dragon free. Merida was more surprise that the dragon didn't kill him, she was scared that the dragon was going to burn Hiccup alive when it had him pin to the large rock, but was shock to see that just like Hiccup, the Night Fury let him go. She was still relief that Hiccup was not harm but she was really confuse, pondering the same question. Why didn't Hiccup killed it? The dragon was all tide up and vulnerable, the perfect chance to kill it but he didn't do it, instead he set the dragon free. That could have been his **one** and **only **chance to prove himself to his father, to everyone in the village that he could be the Viking that he always wanted to be and show everyone that he wasn't useless _'Didne ye want that?'_ though Merida.

Merida grabs her sheet, cover herself, and move's to a comfortable position "Why didne ye kill it?" whispered Merida closing her eyes and drifts to sleep.

**~0~**

"Welcome to dragon training!"

Announced Gobber as he raises the massive Iron Gate so that the Vikings teens can enter the stone arena. "No turning back" said Astrid, as she and the teens entered they took in the arena, seeing the walls scorched and the chain ceiling above them, It was a grim yet awe-inspiring place.

"Can't wait to get dragon blood on this" said Iona holding a mace that her father gave her before he left for the search of the nest, she looks at Merida and saw that she was holding a sword and had her bow with her too "Hey red! You think you're up for it?" Iona said with a bit of cockiness in her voice.

Merida glares at her and shows her sword "Call me red again an' it willnae be dragon blood oan thes sword".

Iona smirks at her "Are you challenging me?"

"Depends… If yoo're up for it?" she replies darkly.

They glare at each other and then look away.

"I hope I get some serious burns" said Tuffnut.

"I'm hoping for some mauling, like on my shoulder or lower back" said Ruffnut.

"Yeah, its only fun if you get a scar out of it" said Astrid with a smirk.

"Yeah, no kidding, right?"

The Viking teens knew that voice and wondered if it really belong to the same person, they turn around and saw that it really was Hiccup behind them holding an axe.

"Pain, Love it" he says sarcastically.

Merida was surprise to see Hiccup here with them at Dragon Training, after what happen yesterday she never expected him to train with them. The other Viking teens groan wondering why he's even here in the first place.

"Oh great, who let him in?" asked Tuffnut.

"Does the Chief know he's here?" Iona asks.

"Yes he does! So let's get started! The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village" said Gobber a bit dramatic.

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him or...?" said Snotlout with a grin, the recruits laugh except for Iona who didn't really find it funny and Merida rolls her eyes and walks away from them.

"Can I transfer to the class with the cool Vikings?" asked Tuffnut.

Gobber throws a supportive arm around Hiccup and ushers him along "Don't worry. You're small and you're weak, that'll make you less of a target. They'll see you as sick or insane and go after the more Viking-like teens instead".

"Gee, thanks" says Hiccup sarcastically.

Gobber sticks him in line with the others, next to Merida, Hiccup glance at her but she avoided his glance, he stops looking at her and looks back at Gobber who walks toward five massive doors that were shaking and could hear the terrible roars from the dragons that are in there wanting to get out "Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight".

"The Deadly Nadder" said Gobber.

"Speed 8. Armor 16" said Fishlegs.

"The Hideous Zippleback".

"Plus 11 stealth. Times 2".

"The Monstrous Nightmare".

"Firepower 15".

"The Terrible Terror".

"Attack 8. Venom 12".

"CAN YOU STOP THAT?!" yelled Gobber "And...The Gronckle" he ended as he put his hand on the lever getting ready to release the dragon.

"Jaw strength 8" whispered Fishlegs.

Snotlout notices that Gobber was about to pull the lever and started to panic "Whoa, wait! Aren't you gonna teach us first?!" he asked.

Gobber gave all of them a smirk "I believe in learning on the job" he pulls the lever and the massive door was slammed open by a _Gronckle_, a dragon with tremendous weight, small wings, has a huge jaw, a rather blunt nose and fairly stubby toe claws. The dragon's wings beat at a fast speed similar to that of hummingbird, it was charging into the ring like an irritated rhino, making the recruits scramble in every direction.

"Today is about survival, if you get blasted, you're dead! Quick, what's the first thing you're going to need?!" asked Gobber.

"A doctor?!" suggested Hiccup _'Which I'm going to need when this is over'_

"Plus 5 speed?" yelled Fishlegs.

"A shield!" answered Astrid.

"Shields! Go!" yelled Gobber.

The recruits quickly scramble for the shields that were scattered all over the arena "Your most important piece of equipment is your shield, if you must make a choice between a sword and a shield, take the shield!" Gobber advise them, he looks at Hiccup struggling to lift his shield, Gobber sighs then goes to him, helps him and sends him where the action took.

Ruff and Tuff see a shield that was the only one that had a skull painted on it, which they both wanted, both went straight for and started playing tug a war with each other.

"Get your hands off my shield!" demand Tuffnut.

"There are like a million shields!" argued Ruffnut.

"Take that one, it has a flower on it, girls like flowers" said Tuffnut.

Ruffnut had a hold of the shield then bash her twin brother in the head "Ooops, now this one has blood on it"

They kept tugging at the shield not paying attention to the Gronckle that fires a shot at them. The shield is blasted out of both their hands, sending Tuff and Ruff to spin like tops and go down.

"Tuffnut, Ruffnut, you're out!" declared Gobber.

"What?" said the twins, a bit confused to what happen.

"Those shields are good for another thing, noise, make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim!" stated Gobber.

With their weapons Astrid, Snotloud, Iona, Fishlegs, Merida, and Hiccup began hammering on their shields. The Gronckle shakes its head at the clatter sound, making it to see the Viking teens all blurry, they saw that it was working and they all scrambled away from the dragon.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots, how many does a Gronckle have?" Gobber asks the recruits.

"Five!" guessed Snotlout

"Eight!" said Iona.

"No, six!" exclaimed Fishlegs.

"Correct, six, that's one for each of you!" said Gobber.

"I really don't-" Fishlegs shield was blasted away from his hand and he started running and screaming.

"Fishlegs, out!" declared Gobber.

Gobber spots Hiccup hiding from behind a wood wall not participating in the least "Hiccup, get in there!" he yells.

The Gronckle fly's towards Iona and Merida, both of them dodged the dragon, Merida let go of the shield and her sword and uses her bow and arrow, she aimed it at the dragon and let go of the arrow but it only made a small scratch at the Gronckle skin.

"Watch and learn red!" said Iona charging at the Gronckle with her mace but the Gronckle made a spin and hit her shield with his tail sending her flying pass Merida and to the wall with a loud thud.

"Great Thor that hurt" grunted Iona trying to get up.

Merida turns her head to look at the girl with a face that say 'she's not impress' "What exactly am Ah supposed tae be learnin'?"

"Like you did any better red!" yelled Iona glaring at her.

"Stop callin' me red!" shouted Merida.

They were so busy yelling each other that the Gronckle fired at Merida, she quickly used her shield, which broke into pieces and send her flying and crashing to Iona who receive another crash to the wall.

"Merida! You're out!" declared Gobber.

Astrid was bouncing on her heels, ready to dodge a blast from the dragon, Snotlout appears next to her trying to hit on her "So anyway I'm moving into my parents' basement, you should come by sometime to work out, you look like you work out-"

While Snotlout kept talking, Astrid cartwheels out of the way, allowing a shot to shoot past her and hit Snotlout's shield, making him fall on his back.

"Snotlout! You're done!" declared Gobber.

Astrid stops beside Hiccup, who stirs awkwardly and tries to look cool.

"So, I guess it's just you and me huh?" said Hiccup.

"No, just you!" replied Astrid as she rolls away in time as the Gronckle blasted another shot that hit Hiccup's shield knocking it clear off his arm leaving him exposed.

"One shot left!" announce Gobber.

Hiccup panics and chases after his shield as it rolls across the ring. The sudden movement sends the Gronckle chasing after him, leaving Astrid in the clear.

"Hiccup!" yelled Gobber starting to get worried.

Merida was still in pain but saw Hiccup being chase by the Gronckle and started to worried as well. Hiccup's shield was rolling to another direction when he suddenly turns he sees the Gronckle was chasing him, he was pin against the wall. It opens its mouth getting ready to fire at him. Hiccup was scared and had the sense of Deja-vu, this is exactly like how the Night Fury did to him, but it didn't look like the Gronckle was going to let him free, he closes his eyes getting ready for his life to end, _again. _But was jump from surprise that the shot didn't hit him but above his head barely missing him.

He sees that he was saved by Gobber he used his hook hand to stuck it at the Gronckle's mouth so that the shot wouldn't hit him "And that's six! Go back to bed, ya overgrown sausage!" barked Gobber as he wrestles the Gronckle back into his pen and locks the door "You'll get another chance, don't you worry" the recruits gather together feeling pain from their first training, except for Astrid who was only out of breath "That's it for today's training, and remember, a dragon will always…" he looks at Hiccup, hoists him to his feet and gives him a stern look "…always go for the kill".

Gobber and the teens walk to the exit leaving Hiccup behind; Hiccup looks overhead to see the steaming pit of fire in the solid stone wall that the Gronckle made, repeating what Gobber just said. "Always?" wondered Hiccup. He didn't notice that Merida was still there a few feet behind him, and she wondered the same thing _'Always?'_ she turns and walks away leaving him be.

**~0~**

Hiccup was at the forest at the same spot he last saw the Night Fury. He was really lucky to survive the first day at Dragon training, especially Gobber saving him in the last minute. He grabs the bola that was still attach to the rope and looks at it closely "So why didn't you?" Hiccup asked, ever since he was little, well littler, his father always told him that dragons are mindless savage beast, that if you come upon one of them they will kill you at any chance they get, and yet the Night Fury didn't. He drops the bola and presses on in the direction the Night Fury flew off. As he keep walking he sees a rocky crevice that look like an entrance, when he enters he sees an isolated cove complete with a pristine spring pool. He looks around but didn't spot the Night Fury.

"Well this was stupid" grumble Hiccup.

He looks down and notices a few black scales on the ground, he crouches and picks it up, studying it. Suddenly a black blur appears making Hiccup jump back and sees that it was the Night Fury. The dragon was struggling to climb out of the walls of the cove, the Night Fury falls and flaps his wings so that he could land but instead the he crash-landed. Hiccup was surprise but smiles with excitement to see the dragon again, he slips down to get a closer look on the Night Fury. He landed on a rock platform and watched as the dragon was trying to fly out of the cove but kept crashing to the ground exhausted and frustrated. Hiccup was amazed that he was actually seeing the Night Fury again with no thoughts of killing it, he was just satisfied by just looking at it. The Night Fury tries again to fly out but failed as he crashes to the ground again. Hiccup realizes that he brought his leather book and charcoal stick with him, he quickly got them out of his fur vest, opened the book and got ready to draw the dragon. As he kept seeing the dragon trying to fly away but fall again, he sketches the dragon quickly the best he could "Why don't you just… fly away?" he wondered out loud.

The Night Fury fires a blast at the ground out of frustration for not being able to fly out, Hiccup then notice something, one of the dragon's tail fin is missing, he looks at his sketch, rubs it off and the sketch dragon is left with one fin. He sees the dragon trying again to fly off but has another crash landing. The Night Fury sees a fish flip out from the water, he got back to his feet and slowly crawls to the water's edge. He spots fishes in the shallow water and snaps at them but comes up empty. Hiccup actually feels sorry for the dragon he couldn't fly or eat, it must be hard for the poor thing. He accidentally drops the charcoal stick. It rolls off of the rock making a sound that caught the Night Fury's attention. It raises his head and spots Hiccup, the dragon recognizes him, and it was the same small Viking that tried to kill him but set him free instead, just like he did for him. Both dragon and boy stare at each other with no flinching, Hiccup tilted his head and the dragon did the same, both of them merely stared at each other not caring if it was the only thing to do.

**~0~**

It was night time and a storm was brewing outside. Gobber and the teens were at the Great Hall seated at a table, eating dinner by the glow of the fire pit, while they were eating they were discussion what each of them did wrong on the ring. On one side of the table Ruffnut was next to Tuffnut, Tuffnut was next to Astrid, and on the other side Snotlout was next to Fishlegs, and Fishlegs was next to Iona.

"Now where did Snotlout go wrong?" asked Gobber.

"Are you kidding? I was fine!" said Snotlout.

"Yeah right, I did better than you" said Iona with her arms cross.

"Says the girl who was tail slammed straecht towards the wall" stated Merida who was sitting at another table next to the recruits. Merida never really got along with the other teens and the teens never got along with her either, so she always avoided them and they always avoided her.

"At least I didn't get shot" smirked Iona.

"Says the girl who got slammed tae the wall twice" Merida declared.

"Well somebody crashed me" protested Iona getting pissed off by the red haired girl.

"Really? Because Ah crash somethin' that was rough, cold, and hard. Oh wait that was ye" stated Merida coldly.

Both girls glare at each other, but then Gobber smacked both girls on the head so they don't start a fight "Save it for another time" he says to them "Alright, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"

"I mistimed my summersault dive, it was sloppy, it threw off my reverse tumble" Astrid reported.

"Yeah, we noticed" said Ruffnut sarcastically.

"No, no, you were great" said Snotlout "That was so 'Astrid' "

"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves" said Gobber.

They heard a door open and all eyes turn to Hiccup, entering the hall sheepishly soaking wet.

Gobber glares at him. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

Hiccup grabs the plate of chicken leg, he tries to sit with them but Snotlout wouldn't let him.

"He showed up" joke Ruffnut.

"He didn't get eaten" chuckled Tuffnut.

Hiccup rolls his eyes and sees Merida sitting at an empty table next to the group alone. He sits in front of Merida, wondering if she didn't mind, Merida stayed quiet and that was good enough for him.

"He's never where he should be" says Astrid glaring at him.

"Thank you, Astrid" says Gobber as he hits the twins in the head, then he lays a giant book on the table that had a dragon on the cover "The dragon manual, you need to live and breathe this stuff. Everything we know about every dragon we know of". Thunder was heard that shaked the hall and the rain pours down hard on the roof "No attacks tonight, study up" says Gobber leaving the teens.

"Wait, you mean read?" Tuffnut ask with a 'are you kidding' look.

"While we're still alive?" moan Ruffnut.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" inquired Snotlout.

"So you're saying you can't read?" asked Iona crossing her arms, enjoying Snoutlout embarrassed face.

"I can read!" grunted Snotlout.

"If you say so" said Iona, then she looks at Merida "Why don't you read it, red?"

Merida wishes that if looks could kill, the bossy girl would be dead by now "Ah think you need it more than me" she said returning to her food.

"Oh! I've read it like seven times" Fishlegs chimed and started explaining "There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face, and there's this other one that buries itself for like a week-"

"Yeah, that sounds great" said Tuffnut interrupting Fishlegs "There was a chance I was going to read that..." he said with sarcasm.

"But now..." finished Ruffnut with a boring look on her face.

"Well, knowing that nobody is going to read the book. I'm leaving" said Iona leaving the group first.

Snotlout gets up to leave as well "You guys read, I'll go kill stuff".

The twins follow to get up but Tuffnut grabs his sister's head and hits her with the table "HEY!" she yells, and he gives her a look, that he didn't do anything "What?"

Fishlegs follows in tow still talking "Oh and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees..."

Hiccup gets up and goes to the table for the dragon manual and sees Astrid, he tries again to act cool "So I guess we'll share-"

"Read it" Astrid replied as she pushes the book towards him and leaves.

"All mine then, wow, so okay. I'll see you-" he hears the door slam indicating that she left "…Tomorrow" he sigh.

He goes back to the table to eat his chicken then to looks at Merida drinking from her cup, they simply sat there eating, not saying a word to each other. Hiccup scratches his head and doesn't know whether to talk to her or not _'She'll just ignore me like the other's'_ he thought

"So… What dae ye think?"

Hiccup looks at Merida with a surprise look on his face wondering if she was really talking to him "I umm-What?" he asked with confusion.

"What did ye think of Dragon Trainin' today?" Merida asked not looking at him.

Hiccup was nervous to answer, this could be the first time Merida talks to him. He can't remember the last time that he and Merida talked to each other, maybe when they were kids but that was years ago. He quickly tried to answer "I-I umm… I-I think it was good, great I guess" he said nervously.

"Whaur dae ye think Ah went wrong in the ring?" she asks still not making eye contact with him.

Hiccup scratches his head, trying to find the right answer "Umm I guess, shooting the arrow at the Gronckle, their skin don't get much damage with just an arrow, a-and you shouldn't let Iona get to you, or else you won't focus on the battle" replied Hiccup.

"Ah see" she says.

He sighs in relief and feels a bit happy that someone was talking to him instead of ignoring him "Uh… Where did I go wrong in the ring?" he asks, when he looks at her, she had an annoyed look on her face, Hiccup started to panic _'D-Did I say something wrong?'_

Merida stood up, and it cause Hiccup to flinch "If ye had focus oan the Gronckle insteid of Astrid, ye could had dodge that shot an' pass the first lesson!" answered Merida her tone sounding angry "See ye tomorrow" she walks away from him and headed towards the door. She opening it and slammed it closed.

Hiccup stood there not understanding what just happened, but knew that he was at fault. He sighs and goes back to eating. Unknown to him, Merida was still at the door, feeling a bit guilty for how she treated him _'Idiot, ye waur finally havin' a conversation with heem, and ye had tae ruin it'_ she sighs puts on her fur hood and starts running towards home.

It was really late, the Great Hall was empty with Hiccup being the only one there, he had a candle with him and another one at the table, to shed some light so that he could read the Dragon Manual. He opened the book and started to read it, ignoring the sound of thunder that was making outside.

"Dragon classifications. Strike class. Fear class. Mystery class" Hiccup turns the page to see the first dragon "Thunderdrum, this reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight".

Hiccup turns to the next page and see's the next dragon "Timberjack, this gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees... Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight".

He turns another page "Scauldron, sprays scalding water at its victim, extremely dangerous".

Hiccup was startled when a strong thunder was made, he took a deep breath and press on reading the book "Changewing, even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight".

He kept pouring through page after page of the strangest and frightening dragons, Hiccup got really scared and felt queasy in his stomach of the many dragons that could easily kill him in a second "Burns its victims. Buries its victims. Chokes its victims. Turns its victim's inside-out. Extremely dangerous. Extremely dangerous. Kill on sight. Kill on sight. Kill on sight..." Each page that he read about the many different types of dragon kept saying the same thing, and the pictures of how it would look like if you get killed by them wasn't helping Hiccup's stomach at all.

Hiccup lands upon a page that was completely blank when he looks up the tittle he sees that it was **_The Night Fury_** page. But there was nothing there, it was completely blank not even a picture of the dragon, which is understandable since no one has ever seen it, there was a few sentences at the bottom of the page that seem to be the only thing it has to say about the dragon. "Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you" Hiccup pulls out his sketchbook from his vest and opens it to his sketch of the Night Fury. He stare at the drawing , letting what he read about the dragon sink in his mind, he did engage it but set it free he thought he was good as dead when the Night Fury had him pin, but it didn't, the dragon let him go. Hiccup still had many questions about the Night Fury and this book didn't have much of the answers. "Maybe Gobber might know something" mumbled Hiccup as he closed the book, puts his sketchbook back in his fur vest and leaves the Great Hall.

**~0~**

Far away from Berk, three Viking ships were at sea letting the wind take them to their destination. Stoick was on a boat with a painted dragon with a sword run through it was sailing about as the other two boats were behind it.

Stoick was looking at the map, his eyes on a picture of dragons in a swirling mist indicating where the nest should be "I can almost smell them" said Stoick as he punch the map. "They're close" he looks up from the map and sees the thick fog to. "Steady" he ordered. The fog was towering from sky to sea like a bruised, daunting curtain, beyond which nothing is visible. The three ships drifted alongside the fog, looking for an opening. Stoick stare at the fog and then came to a decision. "Take us in" he ordered. The helmsman steers Stoick's ship into the fog. The men and women drew their weapons, preparing for the worst to come "Hard to port..." yelled a Viking.

"For Helheim's gate" said Stoick ready to face whatever comes at him. All three ships entered and disappears into the thick fog, all was quiet until a flash and sound of a dragon was heard, thus commencing the battle. If anyone was outside the fog they would had heard the sound of battle and a silhouette of a dragon.

* * *

"I would like to Thank Cjupsher for helping me with the Dragon training scene and I would like to Thank Miyuki for helping me edit the story" said Ayama "And please leave a _**REVIEW, **_and if any of you have questions I'll be happy to answer them but only 8 people that's the limit"

_**SEE YOU SOON!**_


	4. Chapter 3

"Hey everyone. I know I said I've be gone in 2 moths and they turned into 3 months, let just say that I almost went to depression and I lost someone very dear to me"

_May she Rest in Peace_

"So please be patient with me, I want all of you to enjoy this story so I'm writting it in the best way that I can, so I'm sorry if I'm taking too much to post a new chapter, and alot of things are happening to me and I know that I'm not the only one in the world who is going through something difficult in their life"

**Responses from the reviews**

Guest

Thank very much

Mariale-26

Thank you very much. And as for Merida's past… Let's just say it will be a shock to everyone.

Apocalypse owner

If you think THAT was awkward, wait till you see the other chapters

velocerstar 239

Thank you very much for being patient. Hope you like this chapter

reaganrose1315

I'm glad that you LOVE it

Momijifan Low-Ki

Thank you for your review, and I'm relieved that you liked how I wrote Merida and Iona in this story. I was starting to worry that maybe it wasn't a good idea to put an OC in the story, now thanks to you I'm glad I did. And the moment with Hiccup and Merida was not easy to write but I'm so glad that it ended well.

_**ENJOY!**_

* * *

**Chapter 03**

"Y-You know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies"

Hiccup was in the arena holding a shield and his axe. He was talking to Gobber to see if he knew any information about Night Furies since the book didn't had anything about them "Is there like another book? O-Or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?" Suddenly a fire blast was shot and takes the axe head off of his hilt, leaving a smoking hole next to him, when Hiccup sees the dragon in front of him, he yelps and starts running.

"FOCUS Hiccup!" yelled Gobber "You're not even trying!"

Today in Dragon Training, Gobber has set up a maze in the arena and the walls were made from wooden plank held together by metal. The recruits were scatter all over the maze, with their weapons and shields, they were running in many directions ready to avoid or attack the dragon that was loose in the maze. The dragon that was jumping from wall to wall was a _Deadly Nadder_, it had a bird-like appearance, and its body is a vivid color of blue and yellow, while its wings are mottled, darker shades. In front of its eyes, is its curved nasal horn, its lower jaw is shorter and wider than its upper, giving it an overbite. Ringing its skull are a set of spikes. Coating the tail is a series of spines that can inject venom into a target.

As the dragon kept on jumping, Gobber was giving orders from above the ring "Today, is all about ATTACK! Nadders are quick and light on their feet, your job is to be quicker and lighter" he instructed.

The Nadder was following Hiccup, but then spotted Fishlegs, it whips its tail sending a few of its spikes at the blond Viking. Fishlegs screamed and used his shield to cover himself as the spikes from the dragon got stuck on his shield "I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" cried Fishlegs while running from the Nadder.

"Look for its blind spot, every dragon has one" hinted Gobber, while cleaning his teeth with his fingers ignoring what Fishlegs said "Find it, hide in it, and STRIKE!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were rushing in through the maze, but then Tuffnut stopped and Ruffnut bump into him but stopped too, the Deadly Nadder was in front of them. The dragon got close to them but didn't see them, the twins were in the dragon's blind spot, and the dragon sniffs the air trying to look for them. Ruff made a disgust look, she was so close to her twin brother that she could smell his stink.

"Do you ever bathe?" whispered Ruffnut, as they move from side to side so that they were still at the Nadder's blind spot.

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot" suggested Tuffnut, then pushes her and Ruffnut pushes him back "How about I give you one!" she declared. They kept shoving each other, causing their helmet's to get stuck together. They were no longer in the Nadder's blind spot, so the dragon shot it's fire at them, Ruffnut quickly grabbed Tuffnut's arm, dragging him just in time to dodged the fire.

"Blind spot? Yes, deaf spot? Not so much" said Gobber.

The Nadder kept moving and it spotted Merida, she used her sword to attack but the dragon dodge it, then shots fire at her sword, which melted. Merida drops her melted sword and took her bow and arrow. She aimed it at the dragon and let the arrow go, but the dragon shots fire at the arrow and was burn to ashes "Great" muttered Merida. The Nadder whips its tail sending its spikes at Merida, immediately with her shield, she curled up into a ball and hid her whole body behind the shield.

"Your bow and arrows are useless Red!" yelled Iona a few feet from behind the dragon, the Nadder turns around whips its tail at Iona, she uses her shield but one of the spike made a cut on her lower left knee. She crouch down and saw that the Nadder was about to breath fire but the dragon got hit on the head with a shield, Iona looked and was surprised that Merida threw it leaving her expose.

"Don't expect a thank you!" shouted Iona.

"Like I would!" Merida shouted back and then ran, the Nadder turns around and starts following her. The dragon followed her for a while then hops on the wall and continues to look for the other recruits.

Hiccup was running behind Astrid and Snotlout, they pass Gobber but Hiccup stops to ask more questions "He-Hey! Ah so how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?"

"None one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale. NOW GET IN THERE!" shouted Gobber.

"I know, I know, but hypothetically-"

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup looks at Astrid who called him, she makes a gestured for him to get down, she looks over and then hides back when she saw the Nadder appeared, she saw it coming closer but was distracted. Astrid counted and both she and Snotlout roll away, Hiccup tried to do the same thing but failed, getting the Nadder's attention, he quickly gets on his feet and starts running barely missing the Nadder's jaw almost snapping at his back. The dragon fly's up and leaps over the walls, it spotted Astrid and Snotlout and lands in front of them. Astrid was ready to attack the dragon, but Snotlout shove's her.

"Hey!" she shouted.

"Watch out babe, I'll take care of this" said Snotlout trying to act heroically, he throws his weapon at the Nadder but misses, earning a glare from Astrid "The sun was in my eyes, Astrid!" protested Snotlout, trying to make an excuse. Astrid ran and Snotlout followed, as they dodged a fire blast from the Nadder "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I could do that, but I don't have time right now!" said Snotlout as he took another direction, making the Nadder go after the blonde Viking girl.

Astrid looks behind her and sees that the dragon was after her, she quickly slides and use her shield for her to make a quick stop and then kept running. The Nadder crashes against the wall but kept on pursuing the blonde Viking girl, while knocking down all the walls of the maze.

"They-They probably take the daytime off" suggested Hiccup still talking to Gobber, he was also not paying attention when the rest of the Viking teens run pass him "You know, like a cat. Ha-Has-Has anyone ever seen one napping?"

"Hiccup!" yelled Gobber.

"Hi-Hiccup!"

Hiccup turns and sees the maze walls collapsing and saw Astrid jumping of a wall and crash-lands on top of him. All the walls collapse and a lot of dust was in the air, when it cleared up Hiccup and Astrid were in a limb-tangled mess not to mention making it a little awkward for Hiccup.

"Oooh! Love on the battlefield!" joked Tuffnut.

"She could do better" said Ruffnut.

Astrid was frustrated as she tried to get herself off of Hiccup, she had her hand on his face and Hiccup remove it "Let-let me… why don't you..." stammered Hiccup trying to help but obviously she didn't want it. She finally got herself untangle and stand up, the Nadder got itself out of the fallen walls and races towards them. Astrid acts quickly and tries to pull her axe from Hiccup's shield which is still attached to his limp, gangly arm. She kept pulling not caring that he was getting hurt, but it won't come off, she plants her foot on his face and yanks the axe off but the shield was still attached, she takes her stand and swings the axe and shield at the Nadder which cause the shield to shattered, the dragon yelps and scurries off. Astrid stood there breathing surprised and relieved.

"Well done, Astrid" praised Gobber, as he hobbles off to wrestle the Deadly Nadder back into its pen.

Hiccup was curled up on the floor, when he looks up he saw that it was over and was relived, but sees that all the recruits eyed him and he looks up to see Astrid glaring at him.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?!" she asked, wondering if he was taking seriously what they're training themselves for "Our parents' war is about to become ours, figure out which side you're on" Astrid remarked then she stomps off leaving him and the rest of the Viking teens followed as well.

Merida wanted to help him but saw Gothi from above the ring signaling her to come, in which she had no choice. Hiccup was still on the ground wondering and asking himself what he's doing? What's he supposed to do? And in honestly he doesn't even know. He sees a hand and saw that it was Iona giving him a blank expressing, he hesitates but grabs her hand and she lifts him up easily.

"Tha-thank-"

"Just stop"

Hiccup looks at her confused and saw that Iona had a serious look on her face "I already told you. Next time you do something stupid don't drag anyone else with you. Just give up already and stay inside like you're supposed to do" she ordered and then walks off.

Hiccup sighs and scratches his head then starts to leave but then sees a shield, just then an idea came to him, he grabbed it and headed toward his house.

**~0~**

It was late afternoon as the sun was getting ready to set, turning the sky into a beautiful shade of orange and pink. Hiccup had his shield and a fish with him, he was headed towards the cove where the Nigh Fury was, he thought that since the dragon couldn't catch any fish it must really be hungry. Hiccup looked around making sure no one was around following him, once he was conformed that he was alone he headed towards the cove, but once again he didn't notice a certain red hair girl following right behind him.

Merida had her hood on and her tied up hair was on her shoulder, she had a feeling that Hiccup was up to something, she went to his house and saw him heading towards the forest with a shield and a fish. She couldn't resist following him and she was certain that it had something to do with the dragon, more specifically the Night Fury, since he wouldn't stop asking about it during Dragon training. She kept following him walking quietly so he doesn't hear her, she hid herself well behind the trees and boulders and saw that he arrives at a rocky crevice where she sees him going in. She waited until it was safe to go in without being notice.

Hiccup climbed down to the cove and arrives at the bottom shield in front of him, he looks around then he threw the fish into the cove a few feet away. Nothing happens, he looks around but doesn't see the dragon anywhere, he decides to go forward only to get the shield stuck between the two huge rocks, he tried to pull the shield back but it didn't work, so he crawls under it and tries to pull it again but it was no use it was stuck real tight. He sighs seeing that he has no choice but to leave the shield there, he goes towards the fish and picks it up, and slowly walks in the cove looking around cautiously for the Night Fury.

Unnoticed by him the Night Fury was behind him crouched on a huge rock looking at him, like a predator waiting to pounce at the right moment. Hiccup's eyes saw a shadow he turns and gasp as he saw the Night Fury looking at him, the dragon slowly climbs down and smells the fish that the small Viking had in his hands and was at a safe distance between them. Merida was inside the hidden cove and was hiding on the platform rock that Hiccup was last time, she takes off her hood and her eyes were widen with shock that the Night Fury was at the cove but more shocking is that Hiccup was down there with it. She had her bow and arrow ready if anything happens.

Hiccup swallows his fears and offers the fish to the Night Fury, the dragon took cautious steps towards him, his mouth open to eat the fish but saw something under the small Viking's fur vest, he growls and backs away. Hiccup flinch and move his fur vest to reveal the dagger which the dragon hiss at it, he touch the handle earning a growl from him making him freeze. Merida pulls the string of the bow a bit fardder getting ready to shoot. Hiccup carefully lifts it by the handle, and drops the dagger on the ground, but then he saw the Night Fury move his head as if saying to throw it far away, with his foot Hiccup pick the dagger and tosses it away, and into the lake.

Merida eyes widen with shock not believing why he just did that_ 'Are ye out of yer min'?!'_ she thought.

When the Night Fury sees that the weapon was completely gone, it sat down on his legs and his eyes were no longer narrow or fierce, just wide with an innocent and curious look and his ear twitching making him look like a CUTE puppy. That took both Hiccup and Merida by surprised, Hiccup offered the fish again to the dragon and Merida lower her bow seeing as there's no danger, for now.

The Night Fury approaches again slowly still being cautious, he goes towards the fish and opens its mouth "Huh Toothless" said Hiccup as he notices the dragon's red gums but no teeth "I could've sworn you had-"

Before he could finished, a set of razor sharp teeth emerges from the dragons gums and quickly snatches the fish making Hiccup gasp from surprise, the dragon bite it twice then gnashes, swallows it and lick his mouth.

"Teeth" Hiccup finished still a bit terrified.

The dragon eyes narrowed as he presses closer towards Hiccup with an expectant look making him fall and retreat back nervously "Uh, uh, ah, no, no, no…" the Night Fury backs Hiccup against a rock, placing him the same position as before "I-I don't have any more" he says. Merida resume her position and aimed her arrow at the Night Fury's head getting ready if it was going to attack. The dragon closes in over the small Viking, his face inches close to his, staring blankly. A tense moment passes the dragon makes a regurgitated sound then coughs up a chunk of fish onto the small Vikings lap. Hiccup made a disgusting look for what the dragon did and can feel the cold slimy spit on his lap, he saw the dragon sat down on his two legs and simply staring at him. Merida was relived and disgusted for what the dragon just did, she lower her bow again and kept watching.

Hiccup sits up while holding the fish and exchange stares with the dragon for seconds not knowing what to do. The dragon looks at the fish then at him, Hiccup realizes what the Night Fury wants him to do with the fish _'Really?'_ he thought. Hiccup opened his mouth and took a bite from the regurgitated slimy fish and was disgusted by the taste but made a sound that he liked it, which made the dragon ears perk up as if he's happy. Merida felt that she was gonna throw up, just by the look on Hiccup's face she already knows that the taste was horrible.

Hiccup looks at the Night Fury and gave him a smiled to show that he likes it, then the dragon makes a gulp sound as if telling him to swallow the fish. Hiccup gave a look as if saying _'Seriously?!'_ the dragon actually wants him to swallow the fish, since he has no other choice he swallows the fish, he was about to throw up but hold it and swallowed it again and shivered from the dreadful taste. Hiccup looks at the dragon and forces a smile, the Nigh Fury sees his smile and was confuse and then tried to mimic him, and with no teeth he was smiling at the small Viking and showing nothing but his gums. Hiccup was amazed that the dragon was smiling because he smiled, he sits up and reach his hand out wondering if he could touch the dragon, but the dragon growls at him and flaps off then crashes on the other side of the cove.

The Night Fury fire blasted the mossy ground to a red-hot temperature and curls up on it like a giant dog. The dragon hears something, he looks up seeing a bird on a nest, the bird flied away and he kept looking at it, when he turns his head, the dragon was surprise to see that the small Viking has somehow manage to snuck close to him and was seated beside him. Hiccup smiled at him but the Night Fury looks away and made a sound as if he was annoyed, he lays his head on the ground and use his tail to block his view from the small Viking. Hiccup got a bit closer to the dragon and tries to touch his damaged tail, but the dragon lifts up his tail and Hiccup quickly got up, takes the hint and leaves. The Night Fury stood up and goes to sleep somewhere else.

Merida could not believe what she's seeing, Hiccup was down there with the most dangerous dragon that no one has ever seen or how Gobber told before _'No one has seen one and live to tell the tale'_ well clearly he was wrong. Right now she is seeing the **_unholy offspring of lighting and death itself_**, but watching it really doesn't look like it lives up to its name.

**A few hours later…**

The sky was in a blue and light violet color, the clouds were a shade of pink and all was still quiet at the cove. The Night Fury was hanging up-side down on a big tree branch with his tail sleeping like a bat, it woke up and looked around and was surprise to see that the small Viking was still here, he was on the other side of the cove sitting on a rock doing something, the dragon got curious so he got down from the branch and went towards the small Viking. Merida was still hiding at the platform rock, she kept herself busy by carving on her bow with a small knife, once she was finish she saw Hiccup sitting on a rock drawing something on the ground with a stick, she also sees that the Night Fury was approaching him. You think that she would get her bow and shoot at the dragon for getting close to Hiccup but she didn't, for some strange reason she didn't feel like Hiccup was in any danger, so she got herself comfortable on the rock and watches to see what happens.

Hiccup was drawing on the ground to keep himself from being bored. Suddenly the Night Fury appears behind him, watching over him. When Hiccup realize that the dragon was looking at him, he got nervous but continues drawing on the ground, he was doing a sketch of the Night Fury that was pretty good, as he moves the stick to draw, the dragon followed the way it moves, then the Night Fury suddenly walks off leaving Hiccup confuse. He looks back to see that the dragon had a tree branch on his mouth and began to make his own drawing on the dirt, Hiccup was surprised that the Night Fury was copying what he was doing, the dragon look at the small Viking then kept going in circles as he continue to draw making Hiccup wonder what exactly is he drawing. The dragon was drawing behind him, he accidentally hits the small Viking in the head with the branch, but Hiccup was ok he didn't let it bother him. Merida covered her mouth so that she would hold her laugh for seeing Hiccup being hit with a branch by the dragon. She had a better view on the dragon, how he was moving and drawing from here and there, making haphazard lines in every direction.

Finally the Night fury drops the branch and inspects his work and he seems to be pleased with it. Hiccup stands and takes in the sprawling scribble around him and was amazed by it, also his drawing wasn't damage by it. He takes a step to look more at it but accidentally steps onto one of the lines, eliciting an instant growl from the Night Fury, making him freeze not to take another step. Hiccup looks down and raise his foot up and hands out for balance and sees the dragon calmed. He steps on the line again and the dragons growls again, he raises his foot and the dragon was calmed again, he steps on the line one more time and realizes how sensitive the dragon was, Hiccup put his foot between the lines and saw that the Night Fury was pleased and Hiccup smiled. He keeps stepping carefully between each line so to not damage the dragon's creation. Merida gave a small laugh she was really amazed by what she was seeing that no words can describe, she kept looking at Hiccup turning round and round trying to get out of the dragons art without damaging it, making it look like he's dancing.

Hiccup was so distracted by not stepping on the lines that he didn't realize that the Night Fury was right behind him, he froze for a moment when the dragon snorts at his head. He looks up, turns around and was surprise that he was so close to the Night Night fury looks at him with his innocent green eyes and Hiccup simply gaze at the dragon. Merida inch a bit closer and kept a good eye on them, she was excited to see what was going to happen next.

Hiccup slowly extends his hand to try and touch him again, but the dragon makes a small growl at him, he takes his hand back and thinks for a moment, he turns his head away, closes his eyes and extends his hand again letting the Night Fury decide. The Nigh Fury's eyes widen by the small Viking's action, he hesitates for a second but then closes the gap between them and presses his muzzle against the small Viking's hand. Merida was mesmerize by the Night Fury action, it's like he gave Hiccup his trust and what's even more surprising is that Hiccup was touching a dragon, but of all dragons a Night Fury.

Hiccup was amazed and surprise by the sudden touch of the dragon but didn't move his hand away, it was like the dragon gave him permission, his trust, he looks at the dragon still surprise by the contact and the Night fury looked at him and his hand and made a small snorts and in a flash, the dragon was gone.

Hiccup was astonished it was only for a second but he still felt the warmth of the dragon's smooth scale in his hand and it was amazing leaving him with so many questions and emotions that he couldn't describe all at once.

"Whoa" whispered Merida still mesmerize by what she saw, she wasn't seeing things and it wasn't a dream, what she just witness was something real and amazing. She looked up at the sky and saw that it was a getting late, so she quickly left before Hiccup realizes she was even there.

**~0~**

As Merida made her way towards the village her mind was still on what she just saw at the cove, the Night Fury was there and Hiccup was down there with it, Hiccup was able to touch a Night Fury, something that should not be possible. He could have died yet, he didn't; the thought made her both relieved and confused. Ever since she was little she'd always heard from all the villagers that dragons are mindless killing machines, that they are beasts, monsters with no soul. Furthermore Gobber said that _'a dragon **always** goes for the kill'_ but the Night Fury didn't. The Night Fury didn't kill Hiccup, not when he had Hiccup pinned to the rock, or at the cove.

Merida leaned on a nearby tree taking a deep breath and resting her hand against her forehead, mixed feelings going through her at the memory of what she just witnessed. _'Why? Why didne th' dragon kill Hiccup?'_ thought Merida _'Why didne Hiccup kill the dragon at th' moment it was tied up? Why didne he kill it?!'_ As she kept asking the same question over and over, Merida realize something that she hadn't thought of before "Why… Why didne I kill it?"

Merida turned her head in the direction of the cove, where she knows the Night Fury is, and then glanced at her bow. She'd had a chance to kill a dragon, a Night Fury to boot. She was going to kill him when she thought the Night Fury was going to attack Hiccup, yet when the dragon didn't attack, she lowered her bow. He was clearly a threat, but why didn't _she_ go for the kill? Should she go back and try to rectify her mistake?

Immediately after completing her line of thought, her mind flash back to Hiccup. Her knees slowly bent as she slid down the tree trunk, her rear softly meeting the forest floor. If she killed the Night Fury how would Hiccup react? Would he be sad at the loss? Would he be mad at her for meddling? As her mind raced her eyes drifted back to her bow, it was her fourth one, the other three were destroyed by dragons or by herself. She acquired her first bow when she was 8 years old, Hiccup had made it for her. Everyone constantly tells her that a bow is not a good choice as a Viking weapon and she should stop using it. Whenever her current bow broke she always got a new one from Hiccup, even after what happened between them he still made her a bow.

She rose from the ground, dusted herself and headed back to the village. Her mind was made up, she would trust Hiccups decisions regardless of what they were. He was, after all, making them for a reason. Merida decided to follow her instincts and trust her heart that everything will be ok.

**~0~**

It was Night Time, Gobber and the recruits were all gathered at the top of the watchtower, roaring around the bonfire. Everyone was seated in a circle, Astrid was next to Gobber, Fishlegs was next to Astrid, Merida was next to Fishlegs, Ruffnut was next to Merida, Iona was next to Ruffnut, Snotlout was next to Iona, Tuffnut was next to Snotlout, and Hiccup was next to Tuffnut and on Gobber's other side. They all roasted their hunks of chicken on the fire, except for Hiccup who was roasting a fish but lost his appetite after eating that slimy fish the Night Fury made him eat.

As they all ate their chickens, Gobber was telling them the story of how he lost his body parts "And with one twist he took my hand and swallowed it whole, and I saw the look on his face. I was delicious. He must have passed the word, because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg" he expressed dramatically.

Fishlegs 'whoa' in amazement, the other teens were also amazed of hearing the story of how Gobber battled to stay alive and only came out with losing his arm and leg. Hiccup wasn't paying attention to Gobber and even if he was, he had heard this stories like a thousand time ever since he was little well littler, right now his mind was focus on the Night Fury, he still couldn't believe that he actually touch a Night Fury, he could be the very first Viking to see and touch a Night Fury, if it was some other Viking, they would be in Valhalla right now.

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon, like if your mind was still in control of it you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing his heart or something" wondered Fishlegs, holding two chicken legs as he kept talking. The Viking teens gave a weird look to what Fishlegs just said, it sounded a bit strange and disturbing.

"I swear I'm so angry right now, I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot, I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face" said Snotlout dramatically.

"Thor Almighty. Will you shut up" moan Iona.

"Un-unh, it's the wings and the tails you really want, if it can't fly, it can't get away. A **downed dragon** is a **dead dragon**" Gobber stated.

Hiccup was stunned for what he just heard, his eyes widened and his face made a horrified look as Gobber last sentence kept repeating in his head _'A __**downed dragon**__ is a __**dead dragon**__'_. It was his fault, his invention cause the Night Fury to lose his tail fin and now he can't fly much less get out of the cove and hunt to eat and it's all his fault. The other teens didn't notice his reaction but Merida did, she saw the guilty look on his face and was wondering why he had that look.

Gobber yawns and stretches getting ready to leave to prepare for tomorrow's training "Alright. I'm off to bed. You should be too. Tomorrow we get to the big boys" he says to the recruits "Slowly but surely making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare, but who'll win the honor of killing it?" playfully taunting them and goes off to bed.

The Viking teens laugh and smile from excitement, and all hoping the same thing that one of them will kill the Monstrous Nightmare and earn the honor of being a true Viking Warrior.

"It's gonna be me" announced Tuffnut. "It's my destiny, see?" he rolls up his sleeve to reveal a red dragon on his arm.

"Your mom let you get a tattoo?" gasped Fishlegs.

"It's not a tattoo, it's a birthmark" stated Tuffnut.

"Okay, I've been stuck with you since birth, and that was never there before" argued Ruffnut.

"Yes it was, you've just never seen me from the left side until now" said Tuffnut.

"It wasn't there yesterday, is it a birthmark or a today-mark?" inquired Snotlout.

"It'll be gone by tomorrow" said Iona.

Astrid notice that Hiccup was not with them and saw him walked quietly down the stairs, she watches him leave and wonders why but then she shakes it off. Merida notice him leaving as well, and had a feeling that whatever the reason Hiccup left had something to do with the Night Fury. She put down her half eating chicken leg and stood up to leave.

"Going home already red?" asked Iona.

"Ye heard Gobber" said Merida glaring at her "We need uir full strength for tomorrow" she walked down the stairs leaving the group. When Merida got down she spotted Hiccup running towards somewhere, she followed him and was careful not to let him know.

Hiccup immediately ran towards the forge and enters a small room at the back of the stall. He opened his leather book to the sketch of the Night Fury and re-drew the missing tail and then he began his work to make an artificial tail. Merida was watching Hiccup from a safe place while he worked, she didn't know what he was making but whatever it was she knew that it was for the Night Fury.

Hiccup lit the fire, hammered, melted, stitched, and continued on throughout the whole night, he was determined to finish it no matter what, if it was going to help get the Night Fury to fly again then it was worth it. With one last look at the fin, Hiccup concluded that it was complete, he closed it and looked at the sketch of the artificial fin and knew that it was ready.

He cleaned up as best as he could and left the forge, heading to his home. As Merida saw him leave she made a decision to herself, she would confront him the next day.

**~0~**

Hiccup woke up early, heading towards the cove with a huge basket full of fish and the new tail fin for _Toothless_, that's the name he decided to call the dragon instead of Night Fury all the time. He wanted to test the fin before he had to go to Dragon training, but was having a bit of difficulty with the basket since it was heavy, he stopped to take a short break. "Man this is heavy" panted Hiccup trying to catch his breath.

"Need some help with that?"

Hiccup screams and jumps in surprise, turning his eyes land on the last person he expected to find, he panicked and froze. Merida was standing a few feet away from him with her arms crossed, bow over her chest and looking at him with a neutral expression. Hiccup wondered why she was here now, of all the times to run into each other it just had to be when he was about to feed Toothless. He had to act normal or else she would find out about everything.

"M-M-Merida umm… W-what are y-you doing here?" he ask nervously.

"Just out for a morning walk. What ur **ye** doing here?" She lied knowing exactly why he was there.

"I um t-taking a morning walk too and looking at these amazing trees. I mean would you look at that!" lied Hiccup desperately as he gestured towards the trees.

"Oh really" said Merida as she took a few step to get closer to Hiccup, making him step back feeling more nervous "What's that ye got thaur?" she asked pointing at the prosthetic fin he made.

"Oh um... it's it's for ummm..." he was so nervous he didn't know what to say "Its umm-ah-umm… new invention of mine!" he answered quickly, suddenly Hiccup trips making him fall on his back and causing the basket to open and spill some of the fish out. He got up and picked up the fish and put them in the basket.

"What's with the basket of fish?" Merida asked.

"I-It's my lunch" he replied as he got all the fish and closed the basket, Hiccup looked up and was surprise that Merida was close to him, the basket of fish was the only thing standing between them.

Merida had her arms crossed and look at the basket "That's an awful a lot of fish thaur Hiccup. Almost enough tae feed like, I dunnae know? A dragon"

"Hahahaha… Yeah almost" he laughed nervously, he was going to grab the basket and leave but with one hand Merida held the basket down.

Hiccup looks up at Merida, who was looking at him with a serious look "Ah know about the Night Fury."

Hiccup eyes widen and he had a frighten look on his face "W-what are y-you-"

"Ah saw it tied up, and Ah saw ye cuttin' the ropes and settin' it free insteid of killing it" Merida specified.

Hiccup gave a worried and horrified look and started to get scared, she knows about Toothless, does she know where he is? Did she tell someone? If she told the village they will hate him more than they already do, even worse if his father finds out he will definitely hate him or worse banish him "P-Please Merida. D-Don't tell anyone. Please" Hiccup looked at Merida pleading that she doesn't tell anyone. Merida had no expression on her face, he didn't see anger or hate for what he's asking her to do.

"Right now yoo're oan yer way tae see the Night Fury right?" she asked having her arms crossed.

Hiccup nodded "Y-Yeah"

After a few seconds of silence Merida spoke "Ah willnae teel anyone under one condition" Hiccup was confused, what could she possibly want from him "Ah want tae see the Night Fury" she declared bluntly.

"W-What?" he asked not sure if he heard right.

"Whenever ye go tae visit the Night Fury, Ah want tae come alang too" stated Merida.

"R-Really?" Hiccup was now really confused, he hadn't expected that from her. Why was Merida so interested in Toothless? What is he saying? Of course she would be interested in Toothless, he is after all a Night Fury, the rarest dragon of all dragons. The race that no one has been able to see and lived to tell the tale. Who wouldn't want to see him?

"Really" she replied.

"That's all?"

"That's all"

"Y-You won't…" Hiccup was nervous since she had her bow and arrows.

"Ah willnae use mah bow" she said as if knowing what he was thinking, and looked at him with a serious expression "Ye have mah word"

Hiccup thought about it for a minute, her request didn't seem to have any harm in it, and if she did know that he set Toothless free from the start she could have told someone by know but she didn't. Maybe he can trust her and all she wants is to see Toothless, what's the worst that could happen?

"A-Alright" he said.

When Merida heard that she grabs the basket of fish and looks at him "What ur ye waitin' for? Leid the way!"

"R-Right!" said Hiccup.

* * *

"I would like to Thank Miyuki and Saya for helping me write this chapter. I have good news Chapter 4 is nearly finish, when is done I will post it but I want reviews from all of you, I want to know what all of you think of this story and what do you think of Merida and Iona, that's all I ask. So please leave a review"

**_SEE YOU SOON!_**


	5. Chapter 4

"Ok I'll make this quick so you can read the chapter: **1st.** I dropped out of university, cause I didn't like what i was studying, so I decided to become a Photographer. **2nd.** I will soon start working at a part-time job so I can get enough money to buy the camera and other stuff that I will need. a**nd 3rd.** the reason why i didn't update is because I almost did something that I always hate in a story so I had to re-write chapter 4 all over again, and when it was done my friend Miyuki was taking **too** long on editing it" said Amaya

"I told you my internet was broken" said Miyuki

"From the moment I sent it to you, your internet wasn't broken" said Amaya glaring at Miyuki

"I-I well umm you see... On with the story!" exclaimed Miyuki trying to change the subject

**Responses from review**

Guest #1

I'm sorry that I been away for months, I'm just trying to get my life in order.

Cute Little Red

Ummmm…

Amynta Nightshade

Here's the Update. Enjoy

velocerstar239

Thank you Velocerstart239 for your kind words. And I'm sorry for your lost.

mysteriouscritic

Thank you for being **completely** honest with me. I'll try my best to get better.

At123

Amma means Grandmother in Old Norse

And also Thank you ^^

Guest #2

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Apocalypseowner

Enjoy the show ^^

Guest #3

Thank you for liking Iona, and Merida_ is_ the best. Patience everything will happen at the right moment. And it will be worth it

Polar Panda

Thanks I really didn't know that my writhing was good, I'm really just a beginner. When I read your review, I also don't like that, and I almost made the same mistake, so Thank you for remind me.

And you'll find out soon why they became so distance with each other.

Mimmi-13

You'll have to keep on reading to find out.

Guest #4

Thank you very much

Guest #5

Thank you and you're very welcome

Silverwolf

I'll not make any promises

Momijifan Low-Ki

You are very sharp Momijifan, the answers to your questions will soon come for now enjoy the chapter

And Thank you

reaganrose1315

Glad you love it, Maybe you'll love this chapter too.

And Thank you very much

keller75863548274483

Sorry I didn't updated faster, like I said I wanted to make sure it was JUST RIGHT ^^

And Thank you

**_ENJOY!_**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Hiccup and Merida were heading towards the cove where the Night Fury was residing. They walked without saying a word to each other leaving them in an awkward silence, Hiccup glanced at Merida still not believing that he was found out by her. But it's a good thing that it was her and no one else that hates him _'Wait? Does she hate me?'_ thought Hiccup what he can recall from his memories, they used to be friends but after what happen on_ that_ time they stopped, even so Merida never shown any signs that she hates him, she also never made fun of him like the other Viking teens. Nor has she said to him the same thing he hears from the adult Vikings how he should "**stay inside"** or "**he's a useless Viking"**. All she did was simply look away from him. Merida notices him looking at her which makes Hiccup glance away thinking that he made her feel uncomfortable. As they keep walking Hiccup tried hard to think of what conversation he can have with Merida but was worried that he might say something stupid and she might get mad; like what happened last time "So uh… Merida" she looks at him "I-I uh… well you a-I mean uh…." Merida kept looking at him with an impassive face waiting for him to say what he wanted to say. This, in turn, made him feel more nervous "N-Nice weather we're ha-v-ving, right?" he smiled while looking at the sky.

Merida was confused and glanced up as well "Ah guess?"

Hiccup mentally slapped himself _'Good job Hiccup. Great way to start a conversation'_ he decided to stay quiet and not say anything stupid again.

Merida was feeling a bit nervous she wanted to talk to him but last time she tried to talk to Hiccup, she ended up yelling at him. But now here she is walking next to him on their way to see the Night Fury but still doesn't know what to say to him. She noticed the thing he was holding, the one he worked all night to make and thought that she could use that to have a conversation with him "Hiccup".

Hiccup flinch and looked at Merida "Y-Yes!"

"What is that for?" she asked pointing at his invention.

"Oh umm, it-it's a fin I m-m-made for the N-Night Fury" he replied.

"Why?" she asked tilting her head.

Hiccup looked at the fin and had a guilty expression "Umm well w-when I shot him down, he lost a fin from his tail and… and now he can't fly or leave the cove" he explained.

"Sae that's why ye left" said Merida understating why he was working so hard last night "Because ay whit Gobber said yesterday"

Hiccup nodded "Since it's my fault that he can't fly, I want to help him fly again"

"Will it work?" Merida asked "Will th' Night Fury be able tae fly again?"

"Um… Well h-hopefully" he said scratching the back of his head.

**~0~**

They arrived at the entrance to the cove, Hiccup went in first and Merida followed him, they walked down which Merida had no problem even with the heavy basket in her hands. They saw the Night Fury sleeping a few feet away from them. Hiccup looked back towards Merida "Stay close to me" he told her and Merida nodded. They both made their way towards the sleeping dragon, Merida was a bit nervous cause you're supposed to hide or run from a Night Fury not get close to one, but knowing that Hiccup is with her made her feel a little bit at ease. "_Hey Toothless_" sang Hiccup trying to wake him up nicely. The Night Fury, _now_ known as _**Toothless**_, woke up and looked at the small Viking who was smiling at him, then switched its eyes towards the red-haired Viking girl that he didn't recognize. Its eyes becoming fierce while a growl slipped from his lips, which made Merida flinch and step back reaching for her weapon out of habit. This only infuriated the Night Fury further.

"Toothless no!"

Hiccup stood between Merida and Toothless with his free hand raised towards the dragon in an attempt to calm him down while his other hand still held the prosthetic fin. "It's ok Toothless! She's a-a friend!" he affirmed to reassure Toothless that she won't hurt him. That took Merida by surprise wondering if she heard right _'Did Hiccup really call me his friend? Me?' _Merida thought incredulous. Toothless continued to growl at her but not at her exactly. Merida saw that his fierce green eyes were not focus on her and realize that it was her bow and arrows he was looking at, Hiccup seemed to have reached the same conclusion as well.

"Oh um... I know this will sound crazy b-but you should-" but before he could finish Merida threw her bow and arrows far away.

"Throw your weapon away" he said lamely with a hint of surprise in his tone.

When Toothless saw that she threw her weapon away he calmed down, but was still a little cautious from the red haired Viking girl. Hiccup sighed in relief and looked at Merida with worried "You ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine" she reassure him, realizing an air she didn't know she was holding.

Hiccup was relieved by her answer, then remembered why he came here in the first place "Toothless" Toothless stops looking at the red hair girl and looks at the small Viking wondering what he wants. Hiccup grabs the basket from Merida and puts it in front of him "I brought breakfast, I hope- I hope you're hungry". He kicks the basket over, spilling all the different kinds of fish out "Okay, that's disgusting" he said. Toothless eyes widen from the pile of fish, really happy that he gets to eat it all.

"Uh… yep, we've got some salmon. Some nice Icelandic cod..." as Hiccup kept naming the different kinds of fish, he and Merida circled around Toothless slowly while he dug into the pile. "And a whole smoked eel" at the moment Hiccup mention eel, Toothless pulled back from the pile of fish and started to growl at it. Both Viking teens notice the dragon's reaction, then Hiccup picks up the eel by the tail and raise it. Toothless made a shriek sound and backs away "No, no, no, no, no! Okay!" he quickly tossed the eel away getting the hint that he doesn't like eel's. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much either" he rub his hand on his leg to get the smell of eel off. Toothless sniff the pile of fish, now that it doesn't have eel in it, he began eating.

"Why did ye name heem Toothless?" questioned Merida, her eyes trained on the razor-sharp teeth in the dragon's mouth.

Hiccup looks at her "At first I thought he didn't have teeth but they retract to his gums making it look like he doesn't have teeth. Hence why I named him, Toothless" he explained.

Seeing that Toothless was happily distracted eating the fish, Hiccup and Merida move slowly towards the dragon's tail, so that Hiccup can put the tail fin he made on him "Okay, that's it, that's it, just stick with the good stuff, and don't you mind me. I'll just be back here, minding my own business". Hiccup then cautiously approaches Toothless tail and lays the fin next to it and tries to put it on, but the dragon moves his tail away. Hiccup looks at Toothless still eating the fish, he tries again but every time he gets near it, the dragon sweeps his tail away. "It's okay" with both hands Hiccup grabbed Toothless tail to keep it from moving but it still moved.

"Need some help?" offered Merida.

"No, no I-I got-WHOA!"

Toothless saw that there were more fish inside the basket so he stuck his head inside to get it, causing his tail to go forward and dragging Hiccup with him. Hiccup sighs in frustration, got on the tail, his back facing the dragon and quickly straps the prosthetic fin in place "Okay...okay…" he whispers.

As Merida watched Hiccup put the prosthetic fin on, she notices the Night Fury's head juts up with the basket stuck on his face but then falls off. Toothless moves his tail feeling strange, but then he drops his wings and his eyes go wide by surprise. Merida began to worry when she notice the Night Fury slowly spreading its wings out as if he was ready to take off. Hiccup pulled tight the belt on the top of the fin and at the bottom to make sure that it won't fall off, then sat back with a satisfied smile. "Huh!" he opens the fin to take a look at it "Ok. It's not too bad, if it works".

"Umm Hiccup…" Merida tried to warn him but was too late.

Toothless bolts up flying, taking the small Viking with him to the air, which cause Merida to fall to the ground from the force of the dragons take off. Hiccup gripped on to the tail frantically, seeing that he was getting further away from the ground. "WHOA! No! No! No! No! No! No!" he was moving up and down every time Toothless kept flapping his wings to go higher.

"Hiccup!" shouted Merida from the ground worried that he might fall.

Hiccup notice that the fin was closed, then he felt that they were going down and he heard Toothless roar meaning that they were about to crash land. Hiccup grabs the fin and yanks it open. Once it was opened they shot up to the sky, flying higher and higher away from the cove. "Oh my-It's working!" exclaimed Hiccup with excitement that the tail fin he made really works. Merida looked up at them her eyes wide from surprise that the fin he made works. Even so, she was more shocked to find that Hiccup was flying along with the Night Fury. Hiccup turned the fin to the side, making Toothless fly back towards the cove, they flew back down and were flying above the lake.

"It really works" whispers Merida still surprise.

"Yes! Yes, I did it!" triumph Hiccup.

Toothless heard something he looks back and saw that the small Viking was on his tail. With an annoyed look he makes a sharp turn that cause to fling the small Viking off of his tail "AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Hiccup bounces across the water's surface once and takes a dive.

"Hiccup!" exclaimed Merida as she reaches the shore of the lake.

Toothless notice that he wasn't flying right, he saw that the fin that the small Viking put on him was close and then he crashes into the lake.

"Hiccup?!" called Merida looking at the lake, she sees him surfacing from the water and also sees that the Night Fury was ok as well.

"Yeah!" yells Hiccup with his hands up beaming with joy and Merida sighs in relief.

Hiccup swam towards the shore were Merida was, once he got out of the lake, he takes off his boots and fur vest "Achoo!" he sneezed. Toothless swan towards the two Viking teens, got out and shook himself like a dog causing the excess water to fall on Merida "H-Hey!" she yelled. Toothless simply glare at her and Merida glares at him too, forgetting that she was glaring at a Night Fury that could kill her easily. Toothless makes a snort, then walks away from the two Viking teens, he blasted the ground with fire, curls up on it and goes to sleep.

"Guess ye still have tae work oan that" she said, indicating the fin.

"Yeah. But hey it's a working progre-A-Achoo!" he sneeze again "Working progress".

"Ah guess" said Merida "Saae... are ye gonnae take the fin back?"

Hiccup thought about it but then shrugged his shoulder "I think I'll leave it on him. So he gets used to it" he replied and started to squeeze the water out from his boots. Merida sat down on the ground with her legs cross, she simply stayed quiet and was looking at the calm lake. Hiccup continues to squeeze the water out from his boots, he was lost in his thoughts pondering how to make the fin work better. He still couldn't believe that the prosthetic fin he made worked, well almost worked, but still that just means he's one step closer into getting Toothless back in the air. Merida glances at Hiccup and see's that he was getting lost in his thoughts, like he always does and there was something on her mind that she couldn't get it out of her head and had to ask him "Hiccup".

Hiccup snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Merida, she was looking at him with a curious look in her eyes "How… How was it?" she asked. Hiccup was confuse about her question and was a bit nervous that her blue eyes were looking straight at him not like the rest of the teens who would just look through him.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup snapped out of it and focused to her question "H-How was, what?"

"Flyin' "

"What?"

"Flyin' Hiccup. How did it felt when ye were flyin' " she clarified.

"Flying? Me?" he said confused.

"Even if ye jist wanted tae test th' fin tae see if it works, which it did Ah might add, the Night Fu-A- Ah mean Toothless was able tae fly again… an' ye waur flyin' with heem" she explained.

Hiccup hadn't actually thought of it that way. Sure he was excited that the fin he made worked, but because it worked, Toothless was able to fly again and now so was he. He looks down trying to find an answer to her question, he recalls how he saw the ground get smaller, as he went higher, how he saw the cove from above, how he felt the win in his hair, and how he _felt_ flying with Toothless. There was so many ways to describe the feeling but Hiccup just smiled and looked up at the sky. "It… It was amazing" even if it did last for a moment, and even though he could have died, it was still amazing. Truly something that no one has ever done in their whole life and he was the first to experience it.

"Ah see" said Merida.

She looks up at the sky and saw that it was getting clear. Which means that training was about to start soon, she stood up and dusted herself off "Dragon Trainin' is about tae start. We better heed back before Gobber and th' others start tae wonder whaur we are".

"I don't think they will care whether I'm there or not" replied Hiccup with a cheap smile.

"Whether or not yer thaur, they will get suspicious if ye _arenae _thaur" said Merida with her arms cross.

"I know. I know. Don't worry I'll be at the arena. Y-You go on ahead"

Merida made small glare at him which made Hiccup feel a bit scared, she sighed and started to walk towards her bow and arrows "Don't tak' too long" she said and left the cove first. Hiccup lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and started to squeeze water out from his fur vest.

As she was making her way back to the village, Merida felt really relieved that she made the right choice and not kill the Night Fury. She still couldn't believe that she was able to be that **close** to a Night Fury, without getting burned or eaten alive by it. She was nervous at first but because Hiccup was there with her, she knew that there was nothing to worry about. _'Did he really call me a friend?'_ thought Merida recalling what happened earlier trying to wonder if Hiccup meant what he said. She was surprise but a little happy as well, but part of her knows that they weren't really friends _'Ah doubt he really considers me a friend efter what Ah did tae heem'_. She stops walking and looks up at the sky remembering those simple three words Hiccup said when he flied on the dragon. Part of her wondered if she'll get the chance to experience it as well "Guess I'll hae tae wait an' see" she says and then continues walking.

With one last squeeze Hiccup puts on his fur vest and boots, gets up and then walks towards the empty basket and grabbed it. Toothless opened his eyes right on time to see the small Viking leave. "I'll be back tomorrow Toothless. And don't worry I'll bring another full basket of fish for you" smiled Hiccup. Toothless nodded and went back to sleep, Hiccup was about to leave but then he saw something that caught his attention, as he looked at it an idea came to him.

**~0~**

Gobber and the Viking teens were at the arena waiting to start today's Dragon training, but a certain small useless person was still missing "Where is that boy?" wondered Gobber out loud. He got his answer when he and the recruits saw Hiccup coming in the ring. They can't believe that he's still coming to training with them, he couldn't take the hint that he will just get in the way. Merida made a small sigh of relief that he finally made it.

"Am I- Am I late?" panted Hiccup.

"No we were just passing the time by watching the clouds" said Iona sarcastically.

"S-Sorry" he said.

"Enough talk. Every one grab a bucket!" yelled Gobber.

All the recruits grabbed a bucket that was filled with water and stood in the middle of the arena. Gobber went to each recruit and move them in a certain order, once he was done he walked towards the big door, he unlocked them but he didn't opened them. Then the wide double doors were blasted open and a cloud of green smoke started to spread throughout the ring.

"Today is about teamwork, work together and you might survive" announced Gobber as he walked away from the teens.

The recruits were paired-up, Astrid with Ruffnut, Snotlout with Tuffnut, Merida with Iona, and Fishlegs with Hiccup.

"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire, the Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, the other head lights it, your job is to know WHICH is WHICH" stated Gobber.

The smoke encircles the recruits, cutting them off from each other. They were all on alert, they listened and looked around weary for any sign of the dragon. Fishglegs was muttering random facts again about their opponents in his nervousness "Razor sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, crushing its victims in its-"

"Will you please stop that?!" snapped Hiccup getting more tense than he already is.

Astrid and Ruffnut were back to back, they could hear the dragon through the smoke keeping their eyes sharp for it. Merida and Iona could also hear it, they kept looking for the Zippleback watching the smoke around them for any signs of movement from it.

"This is the only time I'm working together with you red" whispered Iona.

"An' hopefully th' last" muttered Merida, while rolling her eyes.

Snotlout and Tuffnut were moving through the fog, back to back, Snotlout was nervous but didn't want to admit it, while Tuffnut had an excited smile looking for the dragon.

"If that dragon shows either of his faces, I'm gonna-" Snotlout then sees a silhouette through the fog and acts quickly "There!" yelled Snotlout, as he and Tuffnut hurl their water into the fog. But instead of a dragon they splash their water at Astrid and Ruffnut.

"Hey! It's us, idiots!" said Ruffnut.

"Your butts are getting bigger, we thought you were a dragon" said Tuffnut laughing at the girls.

"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure" said Snotlout to Astrid but she punch him knocking him to the ground, while Ruffnut throws her bucket at her twin brother right in the face making him fall on his back.

Suddenly Tuffnut was snatched into the smoke and all the recruits could hear his screams from their scattered positions. Ruffnut was about to go in and help him, but Astrid stopped her "Wait" she whispers. Both of them froze and looked around cautiously. Astrid had her bucket ready for the dragon but they were caught by surprise when the tail of the dragon swept them off their feet making both of them fall, losing Astrid's bucket in the process. Then they saw Tuffnut crawling out of the fog fast and really scared as he ran over Ruffnut's body and then got on his two feet and ran past Hiccup and Fishlegs.

"Oh, I'm hurt! I am very much hurt!" yelled Tuffnut, still running.

"Chances of survival are dwindling into single digits now..." said Fishlegs as both he and Hiccup saw the head of the dragon emerge out of the smoke and starts to go towards Fishlegs, while Hiccup moved away. Fishlegs backs away nervously, then throws his water at it, completely dousing the head but unfortunately, the dragon opens his mouth as gas came out of it.

"Oh, heh wrong head" said Fishlegs with a nervous smile. The dragon spew gas on Fishlegs making him flee screaming and panicking.

The dragon hides back in the fog but then approaches Merida and Iona, both girls didn't know if that was the head they needed to splash, but Merida throws the water at it but it was not the right head "Great" she muttered. The Zippleback head leers at her and opens its mouth spewing gas right at her face, Merida could not see and was coughing really loud. The Zippleback was about to snatch her with its teeth, but Iona throws her bucket at the dragon, pushes Merida out of the way and drags her to a safer area. Merida looks at Iona confuse by her action, but if she thought about it this could be a way to repay her from last time. "D -cough- D-Dornt expect a Tha -cough- Thank ye".

"Like I would" said Iona.

The smoke that covered the whole arena started to fade slowly, Hiccup was the only one left from the recruits and he saw that the dragon started to approach him. The Hideous Zippleback has two long serpentine necks with spikes on them, at the end of the necks are two short heads and has a large horn on its nose, and two thinner horns on top of its head. They have yellow reptile-like eyes. The teeth in their lower jaw seem to be longer than the ones in the upper jaw, sticking out. One of the heads leers at Hiccup, he notice that smoke was coming out of its mouth. The other head growls at him and he saw that it was making a clicking sound and sparks were coming out of its mouth, which means that's the head he has to put out.

"Now, Hiccup!" yelled Gobber.

Hiccup hurls the bucket with all his might at the dragon but the water drops short on his feet "Oh, come on!" he whined.

The Hideous Zippleback growls and roars at Hiccup making him fall on his back, the dragon spread his wings out getting ready to finish him off.

"HICCUP!" yelled Gobber as he was about to save him but then stops when he saw Hiccup stand up with his hands held out towards the dragon as if controlling it and the dragon was shrieking and backing away from him.

"BACK! BACK! BACK! N-Now don't you make me tell you again!" shouted Hiccup as kept moving his hands forwards, so that the Zippleback backs away towards his cage.

The Viking teens couldn't believe what they were seeing Hiccup do, it was like the Zippleback was afraid of him and it was listening to what heim. But how? How can someone as puny and useless as him is able to command the dragon. Merida was confuse as well, she never saw Hiccup do that to the Night Fury before _'How is he daein' that?'_ she thought. Gothi was watching from above the arena and was intrigued by what she was seeing.

"Yes, that's right! Back into your cage!" commanded Hiccup as he slyly opens his vest, revealing the spotted smoked eel from earlier. Since he saw how Toothless reacted to it, he wanted to see if it had the same effect to all dragons, and he was so happy that it did. "Now think about what you've done" He tosses the eel inside the pen, in which Merida spotted the eel and remember how the Night Fury didn't like it either. The Zippleback was back against the wall of his cage hissing at the eel not wanting to get close to it. Hiccup then shuts the door and wipe his hands on his vest to get the smell of eel off. When he turns around he saw the Viking teens and Gobber staring at him, eyes still widened, slack-jawed of what they saw him do and wondering how in Odin's name he did that. Fishlegs was so shock that he dropped his bucket.

"Okay! So are we done? Because I've got some things I need to, uh... Yep! See you tomorrow!" He says then runs out of the ring past the speechless group.

As the Viking teens watch Hiccup leave, they were still shock and brimming with questions to what they just witness, thinking that maybe the gas from the Zippleback were making them see things or if what they just saw was real. Merida hid a small laugh from seeing the shock look on everyone's faces that are wondering how Hiccup did that, since she was the only one who knows the truth.

**~0~**

Hiccup was at the smithy, he was at the small room at the back and was on his desk. His mind was still focus on the prosthetic fin. The artificial fin works, Toothless was able to fly but it's obvious that the fin won't work without him operating it, which means he will have to be on Toothless in order for him to fly, but he being on his tail was not going to work either.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup snapped out of his thoughts as he heard someone call him, and already knows who the voice belongs to.

"Hiccup?"

"I-I'm here!"

He got up from the chair, walked out of the small room and saw none other than Merida.

"H-Hey Merida. Do you uhhh need some more a-arrows?" he asked nervously.

"Not really" replied Merida having her arms crossed and leaned on a table "Ah just wanted tae see h-how ye waur daein' ? Ye know efter what happen in Dragon trainin' an' all" she said feeling a little nervous while trying not to show it.

"Oh! R-Right yeah! Well-Well you know that was r-really s-s-something" he stammered.

"Sae uh… How did ye know th' eel would work?" she asked.

"I-I-It was only a hunch b-but I'm so-so glad it worked" he replied while scratching his head.

"Oh it work. And it left everyone speechless, even Amma was surprise"

"Heh I-I'll take your word for it".

Just like last time they fell into another awkward silence. Merida just stayed quiet, leaning on the table and looked around the smithy trying not to make eye contact with him. Hiccup was simply standing there not knowing what else to do or what to talk about. He looks at Merida, still not believing that she knows about Toothless, but she's the only one he can actually talk to about Toothless since he has nobody else to talk to. He still wonders why she hasn't tried to kill Toothless, she knows that he can't fly or leave the cove, so it's a perfect chance to go for the kill, especially when he's a Night Fury. But she hasn't, she didn't tell anyone and she promise that she wouldn't kill him and he was really relived about that.

"Merida" Hiccup suddenly said.

Merida looks at him, and Hiccup scratch his head trying to get the words out "I-I-I want to say t-thanks. Thanks for not telling anyone about me setting Toothless free" he said.

"It's naethin' " she said "Ah gave ye my word, remember".

"Even so I really am thankful. Had it been anyone else they would have called me a traitor for helping a dragon instead of killing it. But you didn't, so really Merida thank you" said Hiccup smiling at her.

Merida was caught surprise by his words and looks away "Yoo're welcome" she said feeling a bit embarrassed "A-Anyways what are ye gonnae dae next?"

"Huh?"

"Ye know, what are ye gonnae dae about…" Merida looks around the smithy making sure there was no one around to hear them "The Night Fury" she whispers.

"Oh! Well I'm still trying to figure that out" said Hiccup, as he put his hand on his shin trying to think "The fin works but it only seems to work if I control it. I'll have to be on Toothless in order to keep the fin open. But I don't think being on his tail while controlling the fin will work"

"Unless ye make a saddle or somethin' " Merida suggested.

Hiccup looks at Merida with his eyes wide with interest to what she just said "What did you say?"

"Unless ye make a saddle or somethin' " repeated Merida.

"That's it!" exclaimed Hiccup as he ran back inside the small room. Merida was confused but walked towards were he entered.

As she enters she saw Hiccup beginning to draw something on his desk, she got a closer look and saw that he was designing a saddle "Yoo're really thinkin' of makin' a saddle?" she asks.

"Well it's better than ridding on his tail" replied Hiccup focusing on his drawing.

As Hiccup continued to draw, Merida looked around at the small room full of drawings of his invention. She remembers all the inventions he has made, trying to help in any way he can for the village but it always ends up making a mess and hurt a few Vikings as well. Merida looks at Hiccup and saw how focus he was getting to finish drawing his idea, he was the same way when they were kids as well. _'Once he gets an idea, there's nae stoppin' heem' _she thought.

"Done!" announced Hiccup satisfied with the design and was really determined to make it "What do you think?" he asked showing her the sketch.

"Looks fine tae me" she replied "Are ye gonnae make it now?"

"As much as I want to, I think it's better to make it when it gets dark. Just so Gobber or anyone else don't see what I'm making" he said "But I think I can get it done by tonight and test it out tomorrow".

"Then it's a good thing that we don't have trainin' tomorrow" said Merida with her arms crossed.

"We don't?" Hiccup asked with a confused look.

"Gobber said we needed time tae oorselves. Sae he's lettin' us tak' a break but efter tomorrow we have Dragon trainin' again" she told.

"Oh well that's good" said Hiccup, looking at saddle design "That's means I'll have plenty of time to test the saddle and the fin".

"Sae at what time are ye gonnae test it tomorrow?"

"I think at mid-day".

"Hmm Ok then. See ye tomorrow".

Merida walks out from the small room, leaving a confuse Hiccup all alone "W-W-Wait! M-Merida!" he ran out, catching her on time before leaving the smithy "T-Tomorrow?"

"Remember our promise. Ah don't teel anyone about the Night Fury and ye let me go with ye whenever ye visit heem" replied Merida.

"O-Oh right" said Hiccup feeling like an idiot for forgetting.

"Right! See ye tomorrow" said Merida walking away, leaving him all alone.

"See ya" said Hiccup but already knows that she didn't hear him.

* * *

"I hope the ending was ok" said Amaya

"Don't worry girl, it was fine" said Miyuki

"Thanks. I would like to Thank Saya for helping me write this chapter and Thank you Miyuki for FINALLY editing my chapter" said Amaya

"No problem" said Miyuki

"Anyways I want too warned you guys that I will be away for a while cause I'm going to have a part-time job, so it will get more complicated to find time to write this story. And chapter 5 is still in process I'm just having a hard time to make it work well with the story. So please be patience" said Amaya

"Well I'm going to sleep" said Miyuki

"Aren't you supposed to be writing your story?" questioned Amaya

"I'll do it tomorrow" replied Miyuki

_'That's what you said last time' _thought Amaya "Please leave a review so you can tell me more of what you think of this fanfic"

_**SEE YOU SOON!**_


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